Anything
by Tess84
Summary: As her college graduation approaches, Elena has to make a big decision. Is she ready to make the ultimate change to be with Damon forever? Sequel to "Everything" and "Something", so you might want to read those first. Delena.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This story is a sequel to my other Vampire Diaries fics, **_**Everything **_**and **_**Anything.**_** I just wanted to make that clear right away, since this story might seem a little out of the blue if you haven't read those first. As her college graduation approaches, Elena has to make a big decision. Is she ready to make the ultimate change to be with Damon forever? **

**OK guys, here's the next sequel – I hope you haven't gotten tired of 'my' alternate universe yet! I think that, after having read **_**Everything **_**and **_**Anything**_**, you might**** have figured out what this story is going to revolve around, but it will take a while to get there, and there will be bumps along the road … So, are you up for it? **

**As always, lots of hugs to my amazing beta, sunshine2006578, who has now stuck with me through three stories, and even more since she helped me, yet again, with the title for this one! You're the best!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

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**Chapter one**

The bedroom was dark and Elena was sleeping soundly next to him, but Damon lay awake, watching the minutes tick by on the digital alarm clock on the bedside table. The little numbers informed him that it was now eleven fifty-seven P.M. Elena's birthday was tomorrow, and he was waiting for midnight so that he could wake her up. She had fallen asleep a little before eleven but he'd stayed awake, not wanting to risk oversleeping. He had planned this moment for weeks now, and it seemed like the closer it got, the slower time moved, until now, when it felt like every second lasted for at least a minute. Impatiently, he fingered the black velvet box he had taken out of his underwear drawer as soon as he was sure that Elena was asleep. He opened the lid, looking at the ring for probably the hundredth time since he had bought it. The diamond sparkled a little, even in the dark. The ring had immediately caught his eye and he hadn't even looked at any others, but maybe he should have? He had been sure, at the time, that it was perfect for Elena, but now, in the dark, doubt started creeping up on him. What if she hated it?

Shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts away. She would love the ring, and if she didn't, she could pick out another one. It wouldn't be a big deal if she wanted to do that. She would, hopefully, be wearing it for a very long time, after all.

Eleven fifty-eight. Taking a deep breath, he placed the open jewelry box on the pillow right in front of Elena. He wanted the ring to be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. Without making a sound, he quickly got out of bed and lit the dozen or so candles that he had placed around the room earlier. She wouldn't be able to see anything if the room was completely dark – she didn't have his amazing night vision, after all – and candles were romantic, right?

Slipping between the sheets again, he reached out to run a finger along the side of her face. Eleven fifty-nine. She sighed in sleep, automatically turning into his touch, but didn't wake up. When the clock changed, signaling a new day beginning, he made sure that the box with the ring hadn't moved before raising himself up on one elbow and leaning down so he could whisper in her ear. "Happy birthday."

"Mmmm," she mumbled, turning to bury her face in the pillow. "What time is it?"

"Midnight. It's your birthday."

"And it won't still be my birthday in seven hours, when I _have_ to get up for class?" she grumbled into the pillow, only semi-coherently, though she sounded more or less awake.

"Well, sure, but where's the fun in that?" He smiled to himself as she pulled the cover up over her head. "Come on, open your eyes."

"I'm sleeping."

"No, you're not." He pulled the cover back down, but her eyes were still squeezed tightly shut. "Can I at least give you a birthday kiss? Then you can go back to sleep, I promise."

She smiled a little. "Go ahead."

"Eyes open, please," he instructed, moving the ring box a little so that she wouldn't be able to miss it.

Sighing, she opened her eyes a fraction of an inch, intent on giving him an annoyed look. But then she caught sight of the ring, and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God, what's this?"

"Rock climbing gear, I thought we could go to the Grand Canyon this summer," he deadpanned. "What does it look like?"

Tentatively, she reached out and touched the glittering, heart shaped stone with one finger. "Are you serious?"

He snapped the box shut. "Nope, just kidding."

She frowned at him. "Can you be serious for one second?"

"How's this for serious?" He took the ring out of the box. "By now you've probably figured out that I don't do big, romantic gestures. But will you marry me anyway, flaws and all? I promise life will never be boring."

It probably wasn't the most romantic proposal ever, but, like he had just said, he didn't really do romantic.

She didn't say anything in response, but held out her left hand, which was shaking a little, and he took that as a yes. Her eyes were still wide and intent on the ring but, as he slid it onto her finger, he watched her instead. He knew every inch of her body, had memorized everything about her from the way her lips tasted and the way her hair smelled when he buried his face in it to the way her skin felt under his fingertips and the way her breathing would speed up and her heart start to beat faster when he kissed that sensitive spot right behind her left ear. But still, every single day, she managed to surprise and amaze him. Like now, when tears rose in her eyes.

"Hey," he mumbled, reaching out to wipe a tear away. "No crying. You can say no if you want, no big. I promise I'll _try _not to take it the wrong way. I mean, I'm only telling you I want to spend the rest of my life with you and you're saying no, so what, right? I'm a big boy, I can deal."

"Shut up!" She smiled at his attempted joke – despite a few tears that were still running down her cheeks – and leaned over to kiss him. "I'm crying because I'm _happy_, silly. I love it, it's beautiful, and I love you. So much."

"Well, I sort of assumed as much, since you _did_ just agree to marry me." He gave her a look, putting on a fake frown. "You did, right? You're not just planning on taking off with the ring and leaving me hanging?"

She was busy admiring the ring and didn't think that the question deserved an answer. The platinum encircled her finger perfectly and the heart shaped diamond – or at least she assumed it was a diamond, knowing that he would only get the best for her – was breathtakingly beautiful. Noticing the logo on the silky lining of the box, she frowned. "The ring's from Tiffany's? It must have cost a fortune!"

"Isn't there some sort of rule against asking how much an engagement ring costs?" he asked dryly. "If there isn't, there should be. I mean, I'm happy to tell you, but isn't it the thought that counts?"

"And now I _know_ that you spent way too much," she concluded, but she was still smiling. "But I don't care, because I love it, I really do."

"Good thing, because if I have anything to say about it, it's never coming off," he told her, kissing the ring on her finger.

"OK, you're totally forgiven for waking me up," she said, the last words disappearing in a yawn.

"Yeah?" He leaned in closer, placing a kiss on her nose. "Is that all it takes to get on your good side? A ring with a sparkly stone in it? Why didn't I think of _that_ earlier?"

"Mmm-hmm." She wrapped an arm around him, pulling herself closer, as another yawn escaped her lips. "You can bribe me with jewelry any time you want."

"But you're still tired." He tried to pull away from her a little, but she wouldn't let him.

"No, I'm …" another yawn, "… awake."

"You know I'm up for _that _pretty much any time, any place, but I'd really rather you were awake," he told her, shifting them around on the bed a little so he was on his back and she was half-way on top of him, her head on his chest. "There'll be plenty of time for you to show me just how much you like the ring tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after _that_, and the day after _that_ …"

Sighing, she pressed one kiss to his chest before laying her head back down. Her left hand rested against his shoulder, the light from the candles still making the diamond sparkle. He had been right; she was still tired. Within minutes she was asleep, the image of the beautiful engagement ring following her into her dream.

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"I still don't understand why you have to go to class on a _Saturday_," Damon complained when Elena's alarm went off seven hours later. "Isn't the whole point of the weekend that you get time _off_? That's what the American society was built on; you can't just go and _change_ it whenever you feel like it."

"I know, I hate it too," she agreed, swatting at the annoying alarm clock. "And on my birthday."

"So don't go," he said, wrapping an arm around her underneath the covers. "Stay here, in bed, with me, all day. I'll make it your best birthday ever."

"That's very tempting and you know I want to," she replied, cuddling closer. "But I have to go; attendance is fifty percent of the grade on this course. And it's the last class. I have to hand in my paper, and I really think I can get an A."

He wanted to say that he didn't care, but knew that it was important to her. "Fine. Don't worry about me, I'll just think of another way to spend the time."

"But we're staying at the boarding house tonight, remember?" she tried to cheer him up as she pulled away and slipped out of bed. "So no Jenna and Alaric around, no Maddy waking us up in the middle of the night and, most importantly, no need to stay quiet."

Madison, Jenna and Alaric's daughter, had turned one in April. Jenna used to joke and call her their wedding night baby, since she had been born almost to the day nine months after they had gotten married in July two years ago.

After Jeremy's disappearance, Jenna had thought about postponing the wedding, which had been planned for that summer. But, between Elena and Alaric, they had managed to convince her to go through with it, that Jeremy wouldn't want them to put their lives on hold because he was gone. A month and a half after the wedding Jenna and Alaric had announced that they were going to be parents and in April the previous year, after a pregnancy pretty much without any complications and a relatively easy birth, Madison Miranda Saltzman had arrived.

Elena would never forget the first time she had seen her cousin; Madison had only been a couple of hours old and when Elena had held her, she had opened her eyes and her tiny little fist had closed around Elena's pinky. Needless to say, it had been love at first sight.

Because the boarding house had been shut up since Damon moved down to Durham three and a half years ago, they had stayed with Jenna and Alaric when they visited on weekends and holidays. But, after getting woken up by a crying Maddy every night for a week when they had been home for the summer last year, Damon had gotten a cleaning crew to come to the boarding house to clean it up and air it out, and since then they had stayed there when they went to Mystic Falls. After Elena's class today they would be driving up there to celebrate her birthday with the family.

"Right, something to look forward to," he allowed, watching her as she got dressed. He'd have a couple of hours while she was in school; maybe he could stop by Victoria's Secret at the mall and pick her up something for her birthday that would be a gift to him as well …

"I'll be done at noon, and then I'll come back here and pack," she said, pulling him away from the very nice images that had started flickering through his mind. "We should probably have lunch before leaving."

"I'll take care of it," he assured her. "It's your birthday, you're not going to worry about anything at all."

"Really?" she asked with an inquisitive look, wondering how far she could take it. "Will you pack for me too?"

"Sure," he willingly agreed. "As long as you'll wear what I pack …"

Her eyes narrowed at that. "Maybe not the best idea," she concluded. "I do have to be out in public."

"Suit yourself …"

"OK, I have to go." She went over to the bed and leaned down to give him a goodbye kiss, quickly taking a step back when he made to pull her back into bed. "I promised Alison I'd let her buy me birthday-breakfast before class."

"I'll see you later," he said grudgingly, and she laughed.

"I love you," she told him as she grabbed her book bag. "And I love the ring, in case I haven't mentioned that already."

"Love you too," he replied. "Even if you refuse to show me just _how_ much you love the ring by staying in bed with me."

She laughed again. "Bye."

The day was already warm – they'd had temperatures in the mid-seventies for almost a week now, despite it still being the middle of May – and the sun was shining down from a blue sky. Elena quickly walked down the street in the direction of the Duke campus, where she was meeting Alison at their favorite coffee place.

A ray of sunshine caught in the heart shaped diamond, and, looking down at the ring, she smiled. She couldn't believe Damon had actually proposed. They hadn't really talked much about what they were going to do after her graduation, which was coming up in only a couple of weeks, but she hadn't even imagined that he would have _marriage_ in mind. Not that she had a problem with that … not at all, actually. She was only twenty-two, and realized that some people would probably consider that way too young to be getting married, but they had been together for four and a half years now. And it wasn't like _marriage_ was the most permanent declaration of love she had in mind …

They hadn't talked about _that_, either. Since Jeremy's disappearance and transformation two and a half years ago, Elena had gradually gotten to the point where she wasn't worried about actually turning into a vampire anymore. Her relationship with Jeremy was really good these days; they talked on the phone once or twice a week and saw each other at least once every month. Her brother wasn't the first or only vampire she knew, of course, but he was the first one she had known before he was changed and, somewhere along the way, she had realized that becoming a vampire didn't mean that you lost any part of yourself; if anything, you gained an insight into what and who you really were. And, in her case, that wouldn't be the only thing she gained.

She didn't know why she hadn't brought the subject up with Damon before, but knew that she would have to, and soon. It wasn't that she didn't think he'd want to have her around forever – she still drank a little of his blood every day to be on the safe side in case she was in an accident or something – the subject just hadn't come up. It wasn't something you just slipped into an everyday conversation, after all. She had actually counted on him bringing it up by now, but he hadn't, probably because he didn't want to pressure her.

While these thoughts ran through her mind, she had made her way to the coffee shop. She could see Alison through the window and made a mental note to stop thinking about her possibly – hopefully – imminent transformation, at least for right now. Today was the last day of class, and then she had two weeks until finals during which she would be studying more or less around the clock. She was going to talk to Damon about it in two weeks, she decided. That would still give them time to work out the details – she didn't want to do it before her graduation, anyway.

A little bell tingled when Elena opened the door and Alison looked up, waiving when she saw her friend.

"Happy birthday!" she exclaimed when Elena approached her through the already crowded coffee shop, jumping to her feet to give her friend a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you," Elena replied, hugging her back.

"I got you a present!" Alison sat back down, pulling Elena down on the chair next to hers. She held out a box wrapped in bright pink wrapping paper, matching her current hair color.

Elena eyed the box suspiciously; Alison had a tendency to buy … odd presents was one way of putting it. Last year, she had given Elena twenty-one little bottles of twenty-one different kinds of alcohol, from gin and brandy to vodka and tequila, each bottle with a little bow around its neck, to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. This box didn't look like it contained something like that, but Elena still shook it carefully. No splashing.

"Open it!" Alison ordered impatiently.

"OK, OK." Elena ripped the paper off, discovering a white box which told her absolutely nothing about what it contained. Taking the lid off, she found a beautiful silver necklace with a heart pendant. In the middle of the heart, her name was engraved, and above the 'E' there was a green stone. "It's beautiful, Ali, thank you!"

"The stone's an emerald," Alison explained, "since that's the birthstone for May. I also got you this." With a mischievous smile, she gave Elena an equally pink envelope.

"Should I be worried?" Elena wondered, opening the envelope.

"It won't bite, if that's what you're concerned about," Alison replied with a snort.

"When it comes to you, I can never be sure …" Peeking into the envelope, Elena initially thought what she held in her hand were butterfly stickers. Then she realized that they were actually temporary tattoos, the kind you find in toy stores. "I take it you think I need a tattoo?" she asked with a smile, glancing at the three tattoos Alison had. Well, the three that were _visible_ at the moment …

"I thought about getting you a gift card for a real one, you know that I have a friend who runs a tattoo parlor in Charlotte. But I know that you'd never go for that, so I got you those."

Elena had a feeling she should be grateful for that. "You were right about the permanent tattoo thing," she said, taking the necklace out of the box. Shaking her hair out of the way, she put it on. "I love the necklace, how does it look?"

But Alison wasn't looking at the necklace; she was staring at Elena's left ring finger. "Oh … my … God," she stuttered after a moment, grabbing Elena's hand. "Oh my God! He actually proposed?"

Elena nodded, a big smile on her face.

"Oh my God!" Again, Alison jumped to her feet, enveloping Elena in a hug. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Elena replied, laughing at Alison's enthusiasm.

"So how did he do it?" Alison asked breathlessly as she sat down again, continuing before Elena had a chance to reply. "On the roof terrace at sunset? Or did you go on a midnight stroll under the stars? No, I know, he made you dinner and hid the ring in the dessert, right? Or in a glass of champagne?"

"No, no, no and no." Elena shook her head. "He woke me up at midnight to say happy birthday, and when I opened my eyes, there were all these lit candles around the room and the ring was just sitting there on my pillow."

Alison sighed. "That's sooo romantic."

Elena thought so too, despite Damon trying to tell her that he didn't do romantic gestures. She knew he didn't really do it on purpose, but somehow he still managed to come up with different romantic dates. They weren't anything spectacular; a picnic in the park, a drive to the beach to watch the sunrise, ice cream in front of a roaring fire, that sort of thing. Every now and then, he would take her out for a romantic dinner at some expensive restaurant, but she liked the cheap, personal dates much better.

"I'm totally jealous," Alison complained, pulling Elena back to the present.

"I thought you were having a good time with … what's his name? Lenny?" Elena couldn't keep up with Alison's dating life if she tried, and she had given up a long time ago.

"Lenny was _weeks_ ago," Alison told her, rolling her eyes. "I'm seeing Steve right now, but I think I might have to dump him." Her brow furrowed at the thought.

"Why?"

"He's just … too sweet."

Elena raised her eyebrows at that. "_Too_ sweet? Is there such a thing?"

"Yeah, you know the type." Alison waved her hand in a dismissive motion. "Never argues, always does whatever you ask, takes you wherever you want to go, eats at whatever restaurant you pick, watches whatever movie you want to watch."

"No, I actually don't know the type. And that doesn't sound so bad." Damon might not really be the bad boy he tried to come off as, Elena thought, but he definitely couldn't be described as _too sweet_ either. If there was something she wanted to do that he refused to even consider, she could sometimes bribe him into doing it anyway, and sometimes puppy eyes and a 'please' worked too, but he would never do whatever she asked, not when it came to trivial things like what movie to watch or what restaurant to eat at. He didn't always have to get his way, either, though. They usually took turns picking restaurants and movies. But, when it really came down to it, she knew that he would do anything for her, and that was what mattered to her.

Alison sighed. "Trust me, it's fun at first, but after a while, it gets really _boring_."

Elena tried to imagine always getting her way, never being contradicted, and could actually understand what Alison meant. "Yeah, I guess I can see your point."

"OK, but enough about my disastrous love life, today is about _you_! Post-proposal sex has to be _the_ best, and I want _all_ the details!"

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**AN: OK, what did you guys think? I'm taking some liberties with Elena's birthday here, I know, but it hasn't been mentioned on the show, right? So I put it where it worked with my timeline! I wanted to get the proposal in there before they talk about Elena turning, since I wanted Damon to show her that he wants her forever, even if it's just **_**her**_** forever … Like I said in the AN at the beginning of the chapter, it's gonna be a little while before we actually get to her turning, I hope you don't mind. We have some stuff to deal with along the way; for one, what are they going to tell Jenna? Someone said in a review of **_**Anything**_** that they would have to tell her the truth since she wouldn't be able to deal with another member of her family disappearing, and I agree. So the question is, how will she react? And has Elena really thought everything through? There is no turning back, after all, and she will be giving up a lot of things … Oh, and I'll put the internet page where I found the engagement ring on my profile, in case you want to check it out! Anyway, let me know what you thought about this first chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: OK, so it seems like I was a little confused when I wrote the AN for the last chapter – this story is, of course, **_**Anything**_**, the sequel to **_**Everything**_** and **_**Something**_** – thank you, **_**whoome **_**and **_**QueQuowle**_**, for pointing that out! I hope I didn't confuse anyone else in the process, and if I did, I apologize. I'm not going to go back and change it, since that would require deleting and re-posting the entire chapter, and I don't want to lose all your amazing reviews, so I hope this is OK with you guys. While I'm on the subject, thanks to those of you who did review, you know it always makes my day when I get feedback from you guys! And lots of hugs for my amazing beta, sunshine2006578, for her continued help with this story!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

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**Chapter two**

Elena had trouble concentrating in class. Her eyes kept drifting from the professor at the front of the room to her left hand and the ring occupying her third finger, her mind escaping the slightly stuffy classroom to her bedroom at home, fifteen years ago.

She and Bonnie had been seven and, during a sleepover, they had planned their wedding. Because they were going to have a double-wedding, there was no question about that. She remembered that Bonnie had wanted a carriage drawn by four white horses, hundreds of golden, heart shaped balloons that would be released as they left the church with their new husbands – who didn't have any faces in their fantasies, they were simply a means to an end; to get married you needed someone to get married _to_ – a wedding cake fifteen stories high and intricately decorated with little roses and hearts, a champagne fountain and two hundred guests. Elena had let her best friend decide, even if her dreams had been less grand; she just wanted her family and friends there, maybe be outside, in the sunlight, and get to wear a white dress. That part had, for some reason she couldn't quite remember, been very important to her.

She had absolutely no idea what Damon would want. Guys didn't think about weddings, did they? Maybe he had just thought that they could take a weekend trip to Vegas and go to one of those drive-in chapels. She tried to imagine that for a moment; getting married with a bunch of other couples waiting for their turn, wearing normal clothes and with Elvis officiating. She just couldn't see it. She didn't want a huge wedding, but she didn't want _that_ either.

She was lucky that the professor didn't call on her to answer a single question during class, because she wouldn't have been able to. When the bell rang to signal that the class was over, Alison had to remind her to hand her paper in.

"For a moment there, I thought you were going to start humming the wedding march or something," Alison said in an amused voice as they left the building and were welcomed by the sun and warmth outside.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Maybe I was a little distracted, so what?"

Alison laughed. "So nothing, you have every right to be."

"Exactly. Well, I have to run, Mystic Falls and a family birthday celebration are waiting," Elena told her friend.

"OK, you have a good weekend with tons of presents," Alison replied. "Though how they're going to top the one you already got, I don't know."

"I don't think that's possible," Elena agreed with a smile. "Study date on Monday?" They had agreed to try to get together at least a couple of times in the next two weeks, to avoid ending up completely isolated with their books. They had a couple of classes together and knew, from experience, that studying together usually resulted in both of them doing well on an exam.

"You know it!"

Elena hurried home, excited to be going back to Mystic Falls and seeing her aunt and cousin. She had just reached their building when her cell rang. Looking at the display, she saw that it was Jeremy and, with a smile, she answered the phone. "Hey Jere." She leaned against the wall next to the entrance, turning her face up to the sun as she spoke.

"_Happy birthday sis!"_

"Thank you."

Jeremy and Anna lived in New York at the moment; Anna had gotten a job involving computers or something, Elena didn't understand half of what she did or how she had managed to get the job in the first place – she was pretty sure it had involved some sort of compulsion, but didn't want to know, so she hadn't asked – and Jeremy was working on a degree in journalism at NYU after having realized that he needed something more than just his art. After he had gotten the daylight ring that Bonnie had spelled for him, he and Anna had spent a year and a half travelling the world before settling down in the Big Apple the previous summer.

"_Get any good presents yet?"_ Jeremy asked, and Elena smiled.

"Well, I did get _one_ pretty good right after midnight," she replied.

"_OK, don't want to hear it. There should be some sort of law against talking about your sex life with your siblings."_

She rolled her eyes. "Get your mind out of the gutter, that's not what I was talking about!"

"_Oh. OK, then tell me."_

"Damon asked me to marry him." The smile on her face widened as she said the words.

The line was completely silent for a moment. _"What?"_ Jeremy then asked, sounding flabbergasted. _"I mean … wow."_

"That's pretty much the way I reacted too. I had no idea he was even thinking about it."

"_Yeah, 'Damon' and 'marriage' aren't two words I usually put together,"_ he joked. _"But if this is what you want, then I'm happy for you."_

"It is," she told him. "I mean, I hadn't really thought about it before he actually asked me, but … it really is."

"_Then I guess I should add 'congratulations' to the birthday wishes,"_ he concluded, his voice taking on a sad tone. _"And I'm sorry I can't be there today, I wish I could."_

"I know you would be if you could," she assured him.

"_Yeah, there's been a lot of that going around,"_ he mumbled, and she wondered what he was thinking about. There had, of course, been a lot of events that he had missed since his 'disappearance' and transformation: Jenna and Alaric's wedding, Maddy being born, birthdays and Christmases … Elena hadn't realized that he actually missed it before now, he had never said anything about it. A thought occurred to her and she almost blurted it out right away. But she wanted to talk to Damon about it first, perfect the idea. So it would have to wait a couple of weeks.

"Well, I have to go," she reluctantly told Jeremy. "We're driving up to Mystic Falls, and Jenna's probably expecting us already even though I told her that we wouldn't be there until two at the earliest."

"_Yeah, yeah, go off and have a great birthday,"_ he grumbled, though she knew he was just kidding. _"You'll get your birthday present when you come here the weekend after graduation."_

"OK. Talk to you soon."

"_Yeah. Love you, sis."_

"Aw, are you getting all emotional because it's my birthday?" she teased him.

"_Shut up!"_

She laughed. "I love you too, Jere."

"_Whatever."_

Still laughing, she hung up the phone and entered the building.

"I'm home," she called into the apartment when she had closed the door.

"And I'm sure you had a great time in class," Damon said, coming out of the kitchen. "If only I could be so lucky to have school on a Saturday."

"Honestly, I can't even remember what the professor was talking about", she admitted, ignoring his sarcasm. "But, since it was the last class, it doesn't matter."

"I'm astounded by the way you look at your classes," he noted, voice mock-shocked. "School is about learning. Now come on, I made lunch."

"Ooh, what'd you make me?" she asked curiously, following him into the kitchen.

Damon was a great cook – when he wanted to be. Over the past couple of years they had developed a routine where Elena usually cooked – she was the one who actually had to _eat_, as he had pointed out – but every now and then, Damon would surprise her by having dinner or lunch waiting when she got home. And, when she asked him to, he would always make her one of his specialties, which ranged from simple home cooked meals to more exotic dishes.

"Your favorite," he now told her, gesturing to the table where there was a plate of steaming pasta with his own special tomato cream sauce with onions, garlic and mushrooms. "I thought you deserved it today."

"Mmm, thank you." She gave him a quick kiss before sitting down at the table.

He kept her company while she ate, something she had gotten used to by now. Even if he didn't eat himself, he always sat with her at the table until she had finished. She thought it might have something to do with his nineteenth-century upbringing: never leave a lady alone at a dinner table.

"So, while I was _not_ paying attention in class, I was thinking …" she started when she had swallowed the last bite of food. "Guys don't really think a lot about weddings, right?"

He shrugged. "I can't speak for my entire gender, of course, but personally I haven't really given it much thought. I'm more interested in what comes _after_." He winked at her.

"Does that mean you're not opposed to having an _actual_ wedding?"

He frowned at her question. "What do you mean an _actual wedding_? What other kind is there? A fake wedding? A make-believe wedding?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you're not set on taking off to Vegas or something," she explained.

"Ah. No. Blame my father – I do, for _so_ many things – but I still have a traditional view on _some_ things, weddings included." Damon shook his head, thinking about what his father would probably say if he could see his son now. Living in sin. Well, he _was_ trying to fix that. "Besides, as long as we're doing it, might as well do it properly, right? But please don't think that's an invitation to take it the whole nine yards with hundreds of guests, a ten-layered cake and live pigeons or swans or something like that. I don't do birds. Oh, and no ice sculptures. Those things are just plain _creepy_."

Elena raised her eyebrows at him. "Don't you know me better than to think that I would want a wedding like that?"

"Maybe. Why are you asking?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "Have you gone into planning mode already? It's barely been twelve hours. I didn't know I'd set loose Bridezilla last night."

"No, no," she hurried to assure him. "I just drifted off a little during class, remembering how Bonnie and I used to plan our wedding when we were kids."

"_Your_ wedding, singular? As in you were going to marry _each other_?" An appreciative smile appeared on his face and, not for the first time, Elena wondered what it was about guys and the idea of two girls together.

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, we were going to have a double wedding."

"Aha. And who were you going to get married _to_? Some pop star or famous actor? Please don't say Leonardo DiCaprio or one of those annoying Dawson's Creek kids or I might have to call the whole thing off. There _is _a twenty-four hour cooling off period to these things, right?"

She gave him a look. "We didn't really think much about that part," she admitted. "We were seven, boys were still yucky."

He laughed at the way she said it. "Any ideas you want to stick with?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Bonnie was the one who did most of the planning, and she wanted one of those fairytale weddings you just described. I just … I want my family there, which means not Mystic Falls."

"Right. Locals might start to wonder if your long lost brother suddenly turns up."

"Exactly. And maybe … I don't know, outside?" she continued, speaking as the ideas formed in her mind. "In the summer, of course. Not the beach, though. It might be romantic, but you get sand _everywhere_. Maybe some sort of botanical garden, with lots of flowers."

As she spoke, her eyes got lost somewhere in the distance and Damon sat watching her, a smile spreading on his face. He hadn't really thought much about this part, what came after the actual proposal and before the honey moon, but he was starting to like it.

"But we don't have to plan anything right now," she said, snapping out of the daze. "What we do have to do is get going. Jenna's probably already wondering where we are, you know how she gets." After Jeremy's disappearance, Jenna always got nervous whenever Elena or someone else she cared about was on the road for longer than ten minutes. Elena thought it was only logical: her aunt did still believe that Jeremy had disappeared while driving back to Mystic Falls from California.

"Not so fast!" Damon exclaimed as she made to get up from the table. "You can't have a birthday lunch without a birthday … OK, it's not a _big_ cake, but still."

"You didn't _make_ me a cake, did you?" she asked when he opened the fridge door.

"Nope, baking is _not_ my thing," he replied, extracting a plate and closing the door again. He didn't come straight back to the table, though, but put the plate down on the counter, hiding it from view.

"What are you doing?"

"Hang on … there." He turned around, holding out a plate with a personal-sized Death by Chocolate cake, her favorite. In the middle of it there was a single, lit birthday candle. "You have to blow out the candle before you get to eat it. Birthday cake rules."

Obligingly, she did as he said. Only when the candle was blown out did he put the plate down in front of her and handed her a fork. She dug into the cake, closing her eyes as the taste of chocolate practically exploded in her mouth. "There is _nothing_ better than chocolate," she announced when she had swallowed, before taking another bite.

Damon gave her a questioning look. "Oh, I can think of a _few_ things."

She stuck her tongue out at him and, faster than she could even see, he swooped in on her, kissing her. The taste of chocolate mingled with the oh so wonderful and familiar taste of him, and she had to agree: there _were_ a few things that were better than chocolate …

"OK, you win," she told him when she pulled away, putting some more of the cake on her fork before offering it to him. "But you have to agree, this _is_ heavenly."

His lips closed around the fork and he slowly pulled back, then licked his lips in a sensuous way. Suddenly, chocolate was the farthest thing from Elena's mind. She was sure he could tell – she could feel her heart rate picking up a little herself and he could probably hear it – but instead of doing anything about it, he sat back in his chair and watched her finish the last of the cake. When every crumb was gone, she picked up the candle he had taken out of the cake after she had blown it out and licked every trace of chocolate from it, pulling it into her mouth and then slowly releasing it. She saw his eyes widen infinitesimally but – maybe it had become a point of pride, she didn't know – he remained in his seat.

"Ready to go?" he asked when she was done, in a voice that was much more composed than she thought it should be.

"Yeah," she replied, knowing that she sounded a little disappointed.

Getting up from the table, she brought the dirty dishes to the counter and opened the dishwasher, bending over to put the plates, glass and cutlery into the machine. When she straightened back up, she suddenly felt Damon right behind her, his body pressed against hers.

"You really think you can get away with a show like that?" he mumbled in her ear before pulling her hair out of the way and kissing her neck, his tongue coming out to graze her skin.

"Um … no?" she replied, turning the word into a question.

"You should know by now that teasing me like that is a _very_ bad idea unless you're prepared to face the consequences." He pulled her earlobe into his mouth, and she let out a gasp, her fingers closing around the counter top.

"Maybe … I am," she managed to get out, pushing her body back against his and eliciting a groan from him.

"You better be."

She knew that she should be going into the bedroom to pack the last of the things she would need for the weekend. She had told Jenna that they would leave as soon as she got out of class and knew that her aunt would be expecting them no later than two o'clock. It was now a quarter to one. But twenty minutes wouldn't make much of a difference … Damon's hands wandered up under her top, his fingertips grazing the skin on her stomach, and all rational thought went out the window. She never could think straight when he was touching her like that.

His body was pressed tightly against hers, pushing her into the counter, but she still somehow managed to turn in his embrace. As soon as she was facing him, he kissed her, roughly, demandingly. She wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and he used his knee to push her legs apart a little, taking one small step forward to be even closer. Their bodies were skin on skin – or would have been, had they not been wearing any clothes – from lips to thighs, and she knew there would be no time for foreplay. Not that there was any need for it; she could feel him, hard, against her stomach. She was suddenly very glad that she had picked a skirt and not jeans when she got dressed that morning …

He must have been thinking something along the same lines, because his left hand, which had been making its way up her back, was suddenly on her thigh, caressing her leg through the fabric of the skirt before he found the hem and could pull it up. Swiftly, he ripped her underwear out of the way.

"Hey …" she started to protest, but her objection died away, becoming a sigh of pleasure, when she felt him slide one finger inside her.

"I'll buy you a new pair," he whispered hoarsely in her ear.

"Mmm," she replied incoherently, her hips moving in time with his hand.

He must have reached the same conclusion as she had about foreplay not being strictly necessary, though, because only a moment later, his finger disappeared and she found herself being lifted onto the kitchen counter. Gratitude that she hadn't been standing in front of the sink – she doubted he would have much cared if he'd dumped her into it – flickered through her mind. Then she heard the sound of a zipper being unzipped and he pushed into her.

She drew in a ragged breath, hearing him do the same. But there was no time for slow, leisurely lovemaking – nor was that what either of them wanted at the moment – and when he started thrusting into her, fast, she didn't try to slow his pace, instead urging him on, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him even deeper.

It wasn't the first time they'd had sex on the kitchen counter – though if this particular spot had been christened before, Elena wasn't sure – since they had explored every room in the apartment thoroughly over the past three and a half years. And they knew each other's bodies so well by now that they could push the other to a quick release if that was what they wanted. And, right now, it was. This was just a quick fix, something to get them through the drive to Mystic Falls and then the dinner with Elena's family. The prospect of spending the night at the boarding house lay before them, promising more privacy than even this apartment with its sometimes nosy neighbors. Within a few minutes, Elena could feel that familiar fire starting to consume her inside and, a split second later, Damon found that sensitive spot, sending her over the edge, before he followed himself.

Somewhere in the dim haze of sexual satisfaction, she thought she heard her phone ring, but wasn't in any state to answer it or even care.

Too soon – she loved these moments, the afterglow, just enjoying still being close, joined together – she felt Damon step away, pulling out of her. She meant to object, but the only thing that came out was a displeased grumble. He seemed to understand, though, because he laughed quietly before kissing her forehead.

"Think you can stand, or do I need to support you?" he asked in a smug voice, and she gave him a – probably ineffective due to the fact that she couldn't muster up much annoyance – glare through narrowed eyes.

"I _think_ I got it, thanks." But when she jumped off the counter onto the floor, she stumbled a little. He instantly reached out a hand to steady her.

"You can't help it, I'm like your kryptonite."

"A Superman reference?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"Sorry, don't know where that came from."

She just rolled her eyes, passing him to leave the kitchen. She quickly found a new pair of underwear, briefly wondering where the ones she had been wearing had ended up and if they were still wearable, and packed the last few things she would need in the bag that was open on the bed.

"OK, ready to go," she said when she reemerged from the bedroom five minutes later, finding Damon sprawled on the couch.

"Then let's get going," he concluded, getting up and following her into the hallway. "Oh, and I think your phone rang … before."

Elena pulled her cell from her purse and saw that there was indeed a missed call. But before she had a chance to see who the caller had been, the phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"_Hi, there you are,"_ Jenna's voice came over the line. _"I called a couple of minutes ago, but there was no answer?"_

"Sorry, I was in the bathroom and Damon didn't hear the phone," Elena quickly apologized, ignoring Damon shaking his head. He opened the front door and she followed him out onto the landing.

"_Oh, OK. So you're not on your way yet?" _

"No, we're just heading out the door, actually," Elena replied, glancing at her watch. Fifteen minutes after one. "My class ran late, and then I was starving when I got home. But we'll be there soon."

"_Yeah, yeah, that's fine, I just thought that maybe you would have been able to leave a little early."_

"Nope, sorry. See you soon, though."

"_See you soon, sweetie."_

Elena hung up the phone and was about to put it back in her purse when it rang again. Frowning, she answered.

"Yeah?"

"_Happy birthday! I can't believe I forgot to say happy birthday!"_ Jenna exclaimed, sounding absolutely horrified, and Elena laughed.

"It's OK, Aunt Jenna," she assured her aunt.

"_OK, that's it. See you soon."_

Again, Elena hung up the phone, still laughing a little. They had gotten outside by now, and Damon was just opening the trunk of his car. "Lying to Jenna, not very nice," he pointed out in an amused voice.

"Right, you think it would have been better if I had said 'sorry, we're running a little late because I just had sex with my boyfriend on the kitchen counter'?"

He considered that for a moment. "Maybe not," he then allowed. "And it's not boyfriend anymore, remember?" He took her left hand, kissing the finger her engagement ring occupied.

"Right. Fiancée. I think I can get used to that."

* * *

**AN: OK, there we go, second chapter. And the story is, obviously, M-rated for a reason. What did you think? Let me know …**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Another chapter for you guys. I don't really have much to say today except thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter, feedback always makes my day! And lots of hugs for my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578. That's it, enjoy the chapter and I'm off to watch the new episode (see, I prioritize updating over the actual show)!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter three**

In the past four years, Elena had made the trip from Durham to Mystic Falls so many times that she no longer noted the landscape they passed through. Today was no different: she turned the radio on to a station playing oldies and then leaned her head against the seat, letting her mind wander in whatever direction it chose.

She wondered how Jenna would take the news that she and Damon had gotten engaged. Her aunt was a woman of the twenty-first century, and Elena doubted that getting married straight out of college would be high on her list of things to do, but it wasn't like it would be a big surprise: they had been together for almost five years now. And they weren't getting married _tomorrow _or anything. Maybe next summer. That would work.

She had decided to let everything school related go for the weekend. It was her birthday, and she didn't want to spend it cramming for finals, so she hadn't even brought any of her books with her. She would have two weeks to study once they got back to Durham on Monday and with Damon's help that would be enough. She wasn't really all that worried about finals to begin with: as long as she passed everything, she would be happy, and unless she had some sort of blackout, she knew that she would.

She couldn't believe that she was already graduating. It felt like she had arrived on the Duke campus for the first time only yesterday, and in three weeks her time there would be over. It was almost a little sad; she'd had a great time in college. But the rest of her life – or hopefully _existence_ – lay before her, promising many more amazing experiences.

Her thoughts strayed like this, with no apparent goal, and she was surprised when Damon's voice pulled her back to the present. "We're here."

Blinking, she realized that they were just passing the sign welcoming them to Mystic Falls. Had she been spaced out for that long? "Sorry, I didn't mean to zone out the whole drive," she apologized.

"Don't worry about it, it was nice and quiet for a change," he assured her with a smirk and she rolled her eyes. "Where'd you go?"

Elena shrugged. "I don't know, nowhere in particular really. Just thinking about the future. School's almost over, but it feels like it's been too fast, you know? Like I haven't been able to keep up."

"Time passing too fast." He nodded. "I know the feeling."

She thought she detected a hint of sadness in his voice. "I bet it's easier when you don't have to worry about time running _out_, though?" she said, hoping he would catch her meaning.

"That's true," he replied, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "Not having an expiration date helps. And, of course, the whole being young forever is also something that takes the edge off time going by."

She couldn't help but laugh, and the momentary gloom was gone.

"Do you want me to drop you off at Jenna and Alaric's place?" Damon asked, stopping at a stop light. "I'm guessing you're anxious to see Jenna and Maddy, and the other way around."

He was right; it had been almost a month since they'd been in Mystic Falls and Elena had missed her aunt and cousin.

"You don't mind?"

He shook his head, taking a right. "No, of course not. I'll relax at the boarding house for a couple of hours, maybe have a few drinks so I'll be able to stand an entire _evening _with your family, and then I'll be there at six. Jenna said that she'd made dinner reservations for six thirty, right?"

"Yeah. And thank you," she said, letting his little sarcastic remark about her family go. She knew that he didn't mean it.

Alaric was in charge of a fundraiser carwash that the high school was doing today which meant that she and Jenna and Maddy would have the house to themselves, and a little quality time with her aunt and cousin didn't sound bad at all. Some girl time.

"Not a problem."

They were soon at the house, and Damon pulled to a stop at the curb.

"Thank you," Elena said again, leaning over for a kiss.

"Just go, have a good time with your aunt," he told her when she pulled away. "I'll see you later, and just remember that I plan on making up for all the time I've missed with you today when we're all alone tonight." He wagged his eyebrows at her.

"Oh, really?" she replied, smiling at the thought.

He leaned in closer, his lips barely an inch from her ear, and ran a hand up her thigh, giving her a taste of what was to come. "Absolutely."

She drew in a breath. "Or maybe I'll just go back to the boarding house with you? I mean, I'll see Jenna and Maddy at dinner later."

He pulled away from her. "As much as I would love that, I know how much you've missed your cousin. We'll have plenty of time for our very own birthday celebration tonight, don't worry."

She nodded, still a little hesitant. But then the image of Maddy's smiling face made the decision for her. "OK, bye."

Quickly – so she wouldn't be tempted to change her mind again – she got out of the car and closed the door behind her, waving as he sped away down the street. Then she turned and headed up the path to the porch and the front door. Jenna opened after only a couple of seconds, making Elena think that her aunt might have been waiting for her to get there.

"Hey, sweetie, happy birthday," Jenna greeted her, giving her a hug.

"Thank you." Elena returned the embrace. "Where's my favorite cousin?"

"Sleeping, thank God!" Jenna exclaimed. "She thought it was a good idea to get up at five thirty this morning and hasn't closed her eyes once since. I don't know where she gets all the energy, I've been completely exhausted for hours."

"Oh." Elena couldn't help but sound a little disappointed and Jenna laughed.

"She'll be awake soon enough, trust me," she said knowingly. "Come on in!"

Elena passed Jenna to get into the still familiar house. Jenna and Alaric had done a few things to it over the past couple of years, but it was still pretty much the same. The most significant change had been to turn Jeremy's old bedroom into a room for Maddy when she was born. Jeremy hadn't been able to recognize the room when Elena had showed him pictures of it after Alaric was done; the walls were now pink, there were white curtains with floral patterns in the window and it was just girly in general.

"Did Damon bow out of the girl time?" Jenna asked, leading the way into the living room.

"Yeah, for some reason he wasn't all that thrilled at the idea," Elena joked, sitting down on the couch. Jenna took a seat in one of the armchairs. "Plus, I wanted some quality time with my favorite aunt and cousin."

"Your _only_ aunt and cousin, at least so far," Jenna pointed out.

"So far?" Elena repeated, eyebrows raised. "Aunt Jenna, are you trying to tell me something?"

"What?" For a moment, Jenna looked completely perplexed, then her eyes widened. "Oh, no, definitely not. No. Not for at _least_ another two years or so. One kid with diapers is _more_ than enough, let me tell you."

Elena laughed. "I'll take your word for it."

"So, how does it feel to finally be done with college?" Jenna asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not really done yet," Elena corrected her. "I still have finals in two weeks, and you never know … what?" Jenna's mouth had fallen open and she was staring at Elena.

"Is there something that _you_ want to tell _me_?" she asked, sounding more than a little taken aback.

Elena looked down at her hands, which were resting in her lap, the engagement ring clearly visible. "Right …" She smiled.

"That _is_ what I think it is, right?" Jenna wondered, moving to the couch and taking Elena's hand in hers.

"Yep," Elena confirmed, letting her aunt examine the ring.

"It's beautiful," she announced after a moment. "Did he just ask you today? And say yes, or I will never forgive you for not telling me right away."

"Well, not _today_, exactly," Elena started, hurrying to continue when she saw the disappointed look on Jenna's face, "he woke me up in the middle of the night, right after midnight."

"Aw, that's so sweet."

"I know," Elena agreed. "He had lit a bunch of candles, and it was really romantic."

"Definitely beats a beer behind the bleechers during a football game and 'so, how about it?'."

Elena laughed. "OK, I _know_ that's not how Alaric proposed, so who?"

"Logan," Jenna told her. "We were seventeen and _very_ drunk. Needless to say, I turned him down. A girl has to have _some _standards, you know."

"I'm not even surprised," Elena said, shaking her head. "He always was a jerk."

"Yeah," Jenna agreed, though she sounded a little wistful.

"Taking a stroll down memory lane?" Elena wondered.

"Sometimes I just miss being seventeen, you know." A high-pitched 'mama' from upstairs made both Jenna and Elena smile. "Though not even close to all the time."

Jenna made to get up from the couch, but Elena beat her to it. "I'll get her," she offered, not waiting for Jenna's reply.

She quickly climbed the stairs and went into Jeremy's old room, finding Maddy standing up in her crib, fists holding onto the bars tightly. When she saw Elena, a big smile appeared on her still chubby baby-face. "Ena!" she exclaimed, raising one arm above her head. "Up!"

Elena leaned down to pick the little girl up, kissing her soft, curly hair, which was the exact same color as Jenna's. "Hi, sweetie, did you miss Aunt Elena?"

"Mama!"

Elena laughed. "Yes, mama's downstairs."

She carried Maddy down into the living room, handing her over to Jenna.

"Do you want to show Elena what you've learned?" Jenna asked, putting Maddy down on the floor. "Where's Elena?"

Maddy turned her head to where Elena was sitting on the couch and reached out a hand to her. Elena made to take it, to support her, but Jenna shook her head.

"Wait a minute," she said, making sure that Maddy was standing more or less steadily before letting go of her other hand.

For a moment, the little girl just stood there, swaying a little, a very focused expression on her face. Then, with another big smile, she took two steps towards Elena and promptly stumbled. Elena managed to catch her in time, though.

"You're walking, baby? Are you a big girl now?" Elena knew that Jenna had started to worry a little when Maddy hadn't started walking by her first birthday, despite their pediatrician assuring her that she had no reason to.

"Ena!"

* * *

Though Damon didn't exactly mind getting out of an afternoon with more estrogen than he felt like dealing with in one go, the real reason he had suggested that Elena spend some time with Jenna and Maddy had been that he – against his better judgment and for reasons he couldn't quite understand – had agreed to help Bonnie and Caroline, who were throwing Elena a surprise party at Caroline's place tomorrow. They had both told Elena that they couldn't come back to Mystic Falls this weekend because they were going to be busy preparing for their own finals, and that they were going to celebrate her birthday after graduation. Elena had been disappointed, even if she had tried to not let it show.

On his way, he stopped at the supermarket, checking the list he had made of things that Caroline had told him to pick up for the party. If he had his way, he and Elena would have their own celebration tomorrow, without leaving the boarding house, or for that matter the bed, all day, but he knew that Elena would be thrilled to see her best friends, so he would go along with whatever it was Sabrina and the beauty queen had planned.

When he had everything on the list, he continued to Caroline's house.

"Change of plans," Caroline told him as soon as she opened the door. "We're moving the party to your place."

"My place?" he questioned. "Why? And you couldn't have called me to let me know?"

"Well, can you come up with a way to get Elena over here tomorrow?" She ignored his last question and looked at him expectantly for a moment before continuing. "I didn't think so. So we're moving the party. All you have to do is get her out of the house for an hour or two tomorrow and Bonnie and I will take care of the rest. Oh, and we're going to need a key to get into the house."

He hadn't seen Caroline in a while and had almost forgotten how overwhelming she could be at times, especially when she was on a mission like now. He was glad to be getting out of spending the afternoon decorating her living room for a party, and it was a big bonus to not have to put up with the Beauty Queen herself for longer than necessary. Though Bonnie would have been there as a buffer, he had a feeling he would've had to try his very hardest not to strangle Caroline at the end of the day – she had that effect on him.

"Well, you won't hear me complain," he said, holding up the bag with streamers, balloons and birthday candles, among other things, for her. "You take this, and I'll go do something more fun with my afternoon than hang out with _you_. Like watching paint dry."

Caroline's eyes narrowed. "Right, because I was _so_ looking forward to spending time with _you_ today," she countered. "Just get Elena out of the house tomorrow morning and send me or Bonnie a text when you're leaving so we know where we can find the key."

"OK, great." He flashed her a not-so-friendly smile, ignoring her annoyed look. "See you tomorrow, then."

"Unfortunately."

Shaking his head, he returned to his car.

* * *

Elena had gotten calls and texts wishing her a happy birthday all day, but she was still waiting for Stefan to call. She had already gotten his present in the mail a few days ago but knew that he would call her to say happy birthday in person too.

After over four years of being friends, they had developed a strong friendship that was just as important to Elena as her friendships with Caroline and Bonnie, and she knew that he would never miss her birthday. Mystic Falls was three hours ahead of San Francisco, where he still lived, but as the afternoon passed, Elena started to wonder a little.

It wasn't until almost six o'clock that he called.

"Hello?" She went into the kitchen to be able to talk in private.

"_Happy birthday, sorry I didn't call earlier, I was … busy,"_ his voice came over the line and Elena frowned.

She had been suspecting that he might have met someone for a while now, but she hadn't asked him about it and he hadn't told her anything. "That's OK," she assured him. "What were you doing?"

"_Oh, nothing special, I was just out with a friend."_

"Anyone in particular?" she pushed.

"_No, just a friend,"_ he quickly replied, and she realized that there was no point in trying to get anything more out of him. He obviously wasn't ready to talk about it yet. _"How's your birthday been so far?"_

"Good, apart from a class I had to go to this morning," she told him. "Jenna and Alaric are taking us out to dinner at this new French restaurant in town that Jenna claims has the best food ever, so I'll be finishing the day in style."

"_Any … interesting presents so far?"_

His tone of voice told her what he was referring to. "You knew!" she exclaimed in an accusing voice.

He laughed. _"Yes, I knew. I've known for months, actually."_

"Months?" she repeated incredulously.

"_Yeah, months,"_ he confirmed. _"He got the ring when you guys were here over the Christmas holidays, and he asked me if I thought you'd like it."_

"But that was almost five months ago."

"_He said that he was waiting for the perfect moment,"_ Stefan explained. _"Then he called me last week to tell me that today was the day."_

The fact that Damon had been carrying the ring around – though probably not _literally_ – for that long made Elena's heart ache a little.

"He's had the ring _that_ long?"

"_Yeah. You know, when I came back to Mystic Falls almost five years ago, finding out that you were with him was literally my worst nightmare come true. I didn't think I'd ever be able to say this but … I know that he loves you more than anything, and I'm happy for you."_

She was silent for a moment, not sure what to say to that. "Thank you."

"_Don't mention it."_

"You're coming to my graduation in two weeks, right?" she asked, wanting to get away from the serious turn the conversation had taken.

"_Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world,"_ he assured her immediately. _"I've already booked my flight, I'll be there the day before. And don't even suggest I stay with you, I've made a reservation at a hotel."_

She was actually a little relieved: it probably would have been awkward, having him stay with them, considering vampires and their damn hearing. That was one of the reasons she and Damon always stayed at a hotel when they went to San Francisco. "OK, good."

"_I'm gonna let you go now,"_ he said. _"I have a feeling there are others who want your company. I hope the last few hours of your birthday will be just as amazing as the day has been so far, and I will see you soon."_

"See you soon," she echoed.

"_Bye."_

She hung up the phone, but didn't immediately leave the kitchen. Instead, she stayed where she was, leaning against the counter, enjoying being alone for a moment. She loved Jenna and Maddy to death, but the little girl was a handful, and after three hours of non-stop playing and babbling, she felt a little drained.

A quiet knock on the kitchen door made her look up, and she discovered Damon outside.

"Why are you coming in through the kitchen?" she asked when she had opened the door to let him in.

"I heard you back here," he explained, closing the door behind him. "How's Stefan doing?"

"Were you eavesdropping?" she teased.

"Yes, because I'm so insecure I can't even let you talk to him on the phone," he deadpanned.

"He's fine," she told him. "I think he's met someone."

Damon frowned. "What makes you think that?" He hadn't noticed anything different about his brother.

"Just a feeling." Elena shrugged. "Call it female intuition or whatever. I've been wondering for a while, and when he called, he apologized for not having called earlier and said that he had been busy. I asked him what he had been doing, but he brushed it off and said that he'd just been out with a 'friend'." She made air quotes around the last word.

"And that naturally means that he has a new girlfriend. Of course." The sarcasm in Damon's voice was evident, and she punched him on the arm. "Ow!"

"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to," she told him, a little annoyed. "I just said that I _thought_ he had met someone."

"Let's hope you're right," he said, trying to make up for not believing her. "It'd be good for him. Might even bring him out of the constant gloom he's been in for, I don't know, the last century or so."

Elena rolled her eyes. "He's not _that_ broody," she objected. "But I think I would be good for him."

"Hey, where did you disappear to?" Jenna's voice came from the hallway and, a moment later, she appeared in the doorway, Maddy on her hip. "Oh, hi Damon. Did you just get here?"

"I did. Sorry, I snuck in through the back door, I heard Elena through the open window."

"That's fine." Jenna waved it off, luckily not asking how he could have heard Elena through a window at the back of the house. "We should probably get going, though, the reservation is for six thirty. Rick's running a little late, so he's going to meet us there."

"OK, let's go."

The food at the restaurant was just as good as Jenna had claimed and, when Elena had finished the last bite of her _pot au feu_, she leaned back in her chair. "I'm completely full, I won't be able to get another bite down," she announced.

"Right there with you," Jenna agreed, gesturing to a waiter nearby.

"You were right, Jenna, the food is amazing," Damon piped in. "Almost as good as in France."

"When were you in France?" Jenna asked curiously and Elena shot Damon a look. They tried not to talk about his past in front of Jenna, since they didn't want to have to keep track of all the lies it would take to come up with something credible.

"Oh, it was right before I moved here," he quickly improvised. "We still have relatives in Italy, and I spent a summer with them. We went up to Paris for a weekend while I was there."

"I've always wanted to see Paris," Jenna said dreamily. "The most romantic city in the world."

"It's a beautiful city," Damon agreed.

At that moment, singing was heard from the kitchen and a few seconds later, half a dozen waiters and waitresses made their way over to their table, the one in front carrying a chocolate cake with a bunch of candles in it, singing _Happy Birthday_.

"Oh my God!" Elena exclaimed when the man put the cake down in front of her. "Chocolate!"

"I thought you were too full to get another bite down," Damon pointed out.

"That doesn't include _chocolate_," she replied in a don't-be-silly voice and Damon shot Alaric an incredulous look. The teacher just shook his head.

"There are twenty-two candles," Jenna said. "Blow them all out and you'll get to make a wish!"

Elena squeezed Damon's hand under the table. "I don't really need a wish."

"And don't forget her present," Alaric reminded Jenna.

"Oh, no, I almost did!" Hurriedly, Jenna rummaged through her purse, extracting an envelope. "I thought you might need this after all the studying you'll be doing over the next couple of weeks," she said.

Elena opened the envelope, finding a gift certificate for a spa in Durham. "Thank you so much. This is perfect."

* * *

When the candles were blown out, the cake was eaten and the check was paid, they left the restaurant. Jenna, Alaric and Maddy went back home and Elena and Damon headed to the boarding house.

"I got you another present," he said when they entered the house. "I didn't bring it to the restaurant since there were children present."

"Oh, PG-13, now I'm intrigued."

"Upstairs."

He led her up the stairs and into his bedroom where a silvery box lay on the middle of the bed. Curiously, she opened it.

"Beautiful," she mumbled, picking up the lace bra and matching panties. "You're not ripping these off!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't even bother putting them on?" he suggested, pulling her closer and kissing her.

"Maybe not tonight."

* * *

**AN: I know some of you think that Stefan isn't really as OK with Damon and Elena being together as he lets on, and I hope you're not too disappointed by this chapter. I'm not planning on having him freak out or anything, about them getting engaged or about Elena turning. Sorry! As always, please let me know what you thought!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Back again after the weekend, hope you all had a good one. Like I said in the first chapter, there are going to be some obstacles along the way, and we'll be getting to one of them in this chapter, let me know what you think about that … not everything can be roses and puppies all the time, right? Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, you're the ones who keep me going with this story! And a big hug for my amazing beta, sunshine2006578, for putting up with me for this long!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter four**

It had probably been one of her best birthdays ever, Elena mused the next morning when Damon brought her breakfast in bed. "Is my birthday extending to the whole weekend?" she asked when he put the tray down on the bedside table. "Not that I'm complaining."

"As long as the same goes for _my_ birthday," he replied, wagging his eyebrows.

She laughed. "And I suppose by that you mean that we'll stay in bed the entire weekend?" she assumed.

"You know me _so_ well."

To her surprise, though, he didn't object when she said that she had to get up. Originally, they hadn't made any plans for the day, but when they were leaving the restaurant last night, Damon had suggested that maybe Elena could take Maddy to the playground, giving Jenna and Alaric a couple of kid-free hours. Elena hadn't objected, of course: she loved spending time with Maddy and she didn't get the chance to do it as often as she would like, with them living over an hour away. So, a little before noon, she extracted herself from the by now rumpled sheets and went to take a shower.

When she got back into the bedroom, Damon was nowhere to be seen. She got dressed and went downstairs in search of her boyfriend – no, fiancé, she corrected herself mentally – as well as the car keys.

"OK, I'm leaving," she said when she found him in the kitchen, holding her hand out for the keys. But instead of giving them to her, he got up from the kitchen table and tossed the paper he had been reading onto the counter.

"I'm coming with you," he told her.

"You are?" she asked, a little suspiciously. He didn't exactly avoid being around Maddy, but he usually didn't volunteer to watch her either or suggest that they take her with them to the park or something. He had said, on numerous occasions, that he didn't really like kids, but the times he did join Elena when she watched Maddy he was great with her, always able to make her laugh even when nothing Elena tried worked.

"If that's OK," he added dryly. "I mean, I wouldn't want to _impose_ or anything."

"Of course it is, it's just …" She cut herself off. "Nothing. It'll be fun, let's go!"

He led the way out of the house and held the car door open for her. When she had gotten into the car, he closed the door and went around to the driver's side. As he rounded the car, Elena thought she saw him take his phone out of his pocket and then, a second later, put it back, but she wasn't sure; his movements were too fast for her to be able to really catch them.

Jenna was waiting for them when they got to the house, Maddy dressed and ready to go.

"She just had lunch," Jenna said when she put a bag with diapers, a change of clothes, snacks and various other things in the basket on the stroller. "If you're not back by two, you can give her the sliced banana that's in the bag. And there's a bottle of water in there too, it's already pretty warm."

"Don't worry, Aunt Jenna, it's not the first time I'm babysitting, I've got it. I promise to get her back to you in one piece and not too exhausted by all the fun we're going to have at the park," Elena told her, taking Maddy from her aunt and settling the little girl on her hip. "Right Maddy?"

"I know," Jenna replied. "OK, I'll just be at home, enjoying the peace and quiet, so call if you need anything. Have fun!"

"We will, won't we Maddy?" Elena tickled Maddy, who squirmed and laughed. "See you later, Aunt Jenna."

"Bye baby." Jenna gave Maddy a kiss before going back into the house.

"Do you mind pushing the stroller?" Elena asked Damon.

"I was _so_ hoping you'd ask," he replied, rolling his eyes.

Elena let out a sigh. "Just push the damn stroller!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" he exclaimed. "There are minors present, language please. It's 'darn', not 'damn'. You're being a _very_ bad influence, you know."

She just gave him a look and took off in the direction of the park and, after a moment, he followed her. "I'm just saying."

There were a lot of families at the playground, taking advantage of the nice weather.

"Of course, we had to pick a day when the _entire_ population of Mystic Falls had the same idea," Damon grumbled half-heartedly. "Figures."

"Up!" Maddy exclaimed, pointing at the swings.

"You want to go on the swings?" Maddy nodded vigorously and Elena turned to Damon. "I take it you're not interested in coming with us?"

He glanced at the swing set and then at the edge of the playground, where there were a few benches beneath a large oak tree. "I think I'll sit this one out," he replied. "You go, I'll be over there, _trying_ to contain myself from joining all the fun."

"Fine." She turned to head towards the swings, but he grabbed her by the hand.

"I don't get a kiss?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Not when you're being all cranky."

He gave her his trademark smirk. "Oh, you know you love it."

"Do I now?"

He leaned in closer, brushing his lips against hers. "Uh-huh."

He could hear her breathing become a little faster, but she still pulled away determinedly. "Sorry, no, not gonna work today. Got to go."

Again, she turned away from him and this time he didn't try to stop her. He watched her carry Maddy over to the swing set and put the little girl into one of the baby swings. When she pushed the swing to get it moving a little, he walked over to the benches, smiling a little to himself. He knew that he had gotten to her, he could always tell.

He found an empty bench and sat down, watching Elena. Even though he didn't often go with her when she babysat Maddy, he loved seeing the two of them together. Elena was amazing with the little girl, and you could clearly see how much she loved her cousin.

Someone sat down next to him on the bench, but he didn't bother to see who it was.

"She's a cutie."

At the voice, Damon turned to find a man, probably in his early thirties, next to him.

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding and turning back to watch Elena and Maddy. He wasn't looking for a conversation, and hoped that the man would leave him alone if he was ignored.

"How old is she?"

Apparently not. "She turned one last month."

"Great age." The guy sighed and pointed at a little boy playing with his mom in the sandbox. "Mine's two. And, no, the Terrible Twos are _not_ just a saying, unfortunately."

As Damon watched, the kid threw a tantrum and kicked the sandcastle he had been building before throwing a plastic shovel at his mother who ducked automatically, probably knowing, from experience, what was coming.

"I really hope that it'll be limited to this age," the man said, wincing. "He'll be three next month, so here's to hoping."

Damon just gave the guy a smile he intended to be dismissive – and maybe just a _little _bit frightening – and hoped it would work.

"What's her name?"

Hadn't this guy ever heard of it being considered creepy to ask too many questions about children at the playground? Though, since he did have a kid of his own, maybe it was OK. "Madison." One word answers usually clued people in on the fact that the other participant wasn't interested in keeping up the conversation, but not this guy.

"She kind of looks like her mom, but that hair …" he continued, obviously oblivious to the fact that Damon didn't feel like talking to him. "You don't have a red haired mailman by any chance, do you?"

It took Damon a moment to realize that the guy thought Maddy was his and Elena's daughter. "Oh, no, she's not … I mean, _we're_ not … she's actually my girlfriend's cousin, we're just babysitting."

"Oh, OK. Sorry, my mistake." The guy seemed embarrassed at his own assumption. "Cute kid, anyway."

Damon didn't reply this time, lost in his own thoughts.

He had never really thought about kids, not in the sense of having any. Back when he had been human, it hadn't exactly been something that men were supposed to bother with. Kids were the women's problems. The only time the men even paid the subject any attention was when it came to producing an heir, something he had never really understood. And, after he had turned, he hadn't thought twice about it. Vampires couldn't have kids, and that was that. It hadn't bothered him.

Not until Elena.

He didn't remember liking children very much when he was human. Stefan had, of course, been much younger and they had never really gotten along until he was twelve or thirteen and had more or less left childhood behind. They'd had cousins that came to visit every summer, annoying little boys who he remembered used to drive him insane by stealing his books and insisting that he play with them all the time when all he wanted was for them to leave him alone. Since he had become a vampire, he hadn't had much to do with kids. He knew that there were vampires out there who specifically preyed on children – they claimed that the blood from a child was a hundred times sweeter than normal human blood – but that was one line he had never crossed. The mere thought of feeding from an innocent kid had always been repulsive to him. And there weren't many vampire children: only the most twisted would turn a child. The closest thing he had gotten was Anna, and she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

He didn't know when the thought had occurred to him. Sometime in the past year or so, when he had started counting down to Elena's graduation. He was pretty sure that she was going to ask him to turn her after that, even if she hadn't come out and said it. Seeing her with her cousin probably had something to do with it as well. Any idiot could see the bond between Elena and Maddy. At some point, the idea that he was taking all that away from her had hit him. She would never get to have that herself, and it was because of him. _She_ could have kids if she wanted to, but not if she became a vampire. And he was the reason that she was even considering becoming one in the first place.

He hadn't talked to her about it. Maybe that was selfish … OK, there was no _maybe_ about it. He was worried that, if he brought the subject up, she would realize just how much she would be giving up by letting him turn her and change her mind about the whole thing. And he knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he would never be able to live without her. Not now, when he'd had more than four years with her, when he knew how much better, how much happier, she made his whole existence.

So he wouldn't say anything. And if she, somewhere down the line – fifty, a hundred years from now – accused him of having cheated her out of having kids of her own, he would deal with it. It was the coward's way out, he knew that, but the mere thought of losing her made it impossible for him to say anything.

"You OK?"

He looked up to find Elena right in front of him, a frown on her face and Maddy in her arms. He had been so lost in thoughts he hadn't even noticed them approaching him. He also realized that the guy who had been sitting next to him was gone. How long had he been zoned out?

"Yeah, sorry, just … thinking." He tried to smile at her but didn't think he succeeded, because she was still looking at him a little funny. He focused his attention on Maddy, making a face he knew always made her laugh. And, sure enough, her baby-giggle broke the tension that threatened to put a damper on the situation and distracted Elena from pushing the subject.

"We were just going to get some water," she said, sitting down next to him and putting Maddy in his lap. "It's pretty hot out there, I don't want her to get heatstroke or something." As she spoke, she extracted the bag Jenna had sent with them and started digging around in it.

"Did you have fun on the swings?" Damon asked, picking Maddy up. "Did you go really high?" He lifted her over his head and she squealed with delight.

"Up, up, up!"

He couldn't help but smile at the excitement on Maddy's face. Maybe kids weren't so bad, after all.

"Here you go, sweetie," Elena said, holding out one of Maddy's bottles which was filled with water. Damon put Maddy back down in his lap and she eagerly reached for the bottle.

"Baba!"

"You thirsty, baby?" Elena smiled as she gave Maddy the bottle. She held up the bag with banana slices. "Do you want some banana?"

But Maddy seemed to be happy with her water. After a couple of minutes, she dropped the bottle and pointed towards the swings again. "Up!"

"You want to go on the swings again?" Elena sighed a little, looking like she'd rather stay in the shade.

"I've got it," Damon offered, standing up and lifting Maddy onto his shoulders. "Stay here, take it easy for a little while."

"OK," Elena willingly agreed, leaning back against the bench. "Just not too high!"

"Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes as he crossed the playground and put Maddy back in the baby swing. "Not too high …" he muttered under his breath, giving the swing a gentle push to set it in motion. It didn't go very high at all, only a few feet, but even that made Maddy shriek with laughter and clap her hands.

After only a couple of minutes, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket – he had turned the sound off, not wanting Elena to hear when he got the message Bonnie was going to send him when everything was ready at the house – and he discreetly pulled it out. While keeping one eye on Maddy, he read the text.

_All set, come back whenever you want – B_

He checked his watch, realizing that they had already been at the park for over an hour and a half. He must have really lost track of time when he'd been wrapped up in his own thoughts earlier.

Putting the phone back in his pocket, he returned his full attention to Maddy. They could stay a little longer; the party wouldn't start until they got there, anyway.

* * *

Elena thought the time spent with Maddy at the playground was the perfect end to her birthday celebrations. When they dropped her cousin off at the house, she felt like she couldn't really ask for more out of the weekend.

"Do you want to head back to Durham tonight, or wait until tomorrow morning?" she asked Damon when they pulled up in front of the boarding house.

It took him a moment to answer, and she thought she saw him glance at the front door. "Whatever you want is fine."

"Well, I _should_ start studying as soon as possible tomorrow, so it might be better if we go back tonight," she reasoned, getting out of the car.

"Can we _not_ talk about finals or school or anything related to all that for the rest of the day?" he wondered, following her towards the house. "It _is_ still the weekend." He unlocked the front door and they both went inside.

"I suppose you could … distract me," she suggested, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Surprise!"

The word, yelled by a group of people who had apparently been hiding when they entered the house, made Elena jump a little.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed when she saw Bonnie, Caroline, Matt, and some of her other friends from high school gathered in the hallway. "What is this?"

"A surprise party, silly!" Caroline told her, coming up to give her a hug. "Happy birthday."

"But you guys had to stay at school this weekend," Elena said incredulously. "You told me that."

"Sorry, it was Caroline's idea to do the whole surprise thing," Bonnie told her, following Caroline. "I can't believe you actually thought we'd miss your birthday; how could we ever do that? We've been celebrating together for fifteen years, you don't break a tradition like that for some stupid exams!"

"I know, but … never mind, I'm just so glad you're all here." Elena hugged Bonnie back and then turned to Matt. She was especially glad that he was there: he and Caroline had had a somewhat nasty break-up during their sophomore year and hadn't really been in the same room since then. She hoped this was a step in the direction of them becoming at least civil to each other again.

"Happy birthday, Elena," Matt said, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you," she mumbled back, giving him a squeeze before letting him go.

"How about we move the party somewhere else?" Damon suggested. "There _is_ more to this house than just the hallway." Everyone started filing into the large living room, but Elena lingered behind a little.

"Did you have something to do with this?" she asked as she and Damon followed the others. "Taking Maddy to the park was really a cover so Bonnie and Caroline could set this up, right?"

"You got me," he admitted, putting an arm around her waist. "Can you _ever_ forgive me for lying to you?"

Elena rolled her eyes at the exaggerated desperation in his voice. "Not if you're going to be all annoying about it."

"Seriously though," he replied. "Happy to see your friends?"

"Ecstatic!"

* * *

"I am going to leave you ladies to it," Damon said at seven in the evening.

Bonnie and Caroline were still at the boarding house, though the rest of the party guests had left. The two were staying behind for their birthday tradition: ice cream and girl talk.

"You don't have to," Elena told him half-heartedly, but he just shook his head.

"More estrogen than I can handle in this room right now," he replied, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. "I'm gonna go watch some extremely manly movie to make up for it, but you have fun."

"OK," she agreed, squeezing his hand. "See you a little later then."

"Bye Sabrina, Barbie."

Caroline stuck her tongue out at Damon's back as he left the room.

"So, did you have a good birthday weekend?" Bonnie asked Elena, too used to her own nick name to even care.

With a smile, Elena nodded. "The greatest. Especially now that I get to see my best friends. I have to say, even if I did understand that you guys had to study, I still didn't like thinking that I wouldn't get to celebrate with you."

"We're sorry," Bonnie apologized again. "It was Caroline who …"

"Yeah, yeah, she heard you the first time," Caroline interrupted. "That's fine, I can take credit for the party. It was fabulous."

"It _was_ great," Elena agreed, holding her tub of ice cream out to Bonnie so that they could switch. "Thank you so much, I haven't had a birthday party like that in _years_."

"I thought it would be a good way to get ready for the next two weeks," Caroline explained. "I know I'll be cooped up with my books until finals start and I'm sure you'll be too, so this will be our last social event until graduation. We deserve to let loose a little."

Elena and Bonnie both nodded in agreement.

"So, did you get any good presents yesterday?" Bonnie asked, changing the subject.

"I did," Elena replied, fingering the necklace Alison had given her. "Ali gave me this."

"That's not the only thing you got," Caroline said, eyes widening. "How did we manage to miss _that_ rock for the past five hours?"

Smiling, Elena held out her left hand so Bonnie and Caroline could admire the engagement ring. She hadn't spoken to either of them since before Damon proposed, since they had both just sent her texts to with her a happy birthday, and hadn't gotten around to telling them about the engagement yet. Also, she for some reason wanted to do it in person and not over the phone.

"It's beautiful," Bonnie said. "I'm happy for you guys."

Elena didn't think that her best friend displayed the proper amount of surprise, and was about to call her on it – had she known too? – when Caroline distracted her.

"So, a shotgun wedding this summer then, huh?" the blonde assumed in an I-know-what's-going-on voice.

Elena frowned. "What? No, why would you think that?"

"Oh really?" Caroline replied in a disbelieving voice. "So you're trying to tell us that you're _not_ knocked up?"

Elena was so taken aback that she had to tell herself to close her mouth. "No! God, Caroline, of _course_ not!"

"Oh come on!" Caroline insisted. "Why else would you be getting married when you're twenty-two?"

"Maybe because they love each other?" Bonnie piped in.

Caroline snorted. "Right." She didn't sound like she believed that explanation one bit.

"Look, just because you're loving the young-and-single life doesn't mean everyone wants that," Elena snapped, sounding a little harsher than was absolutely necessary. But, Caroline being Caroline, she didn't think it was that big a deal.

"All I'm saying is why get married so young if you don't have to?" Caroline insisted. "You have your entire life ahead of you, there'll be plenty of time for that."

"It's not like we're getting married _tomorrow_," Elena tried to reason. She didn't want to get into a fight with Caroline, especially not during her birthday party and definitely not about this. "And it's not going to change anything, anyway."

Caroline seemed to consider that for a moment. "OK, I guess I see your point," she then allowed, a little grudgingly. "I mean, I'm not even planning any serious _dating_ for years, but I can actually see you two tying the knot."

"Thank you." Elena let out a relieved breath, glad that the situation hadn't gotten out of control.

"And you're _absolutely_ positive you're not pregnant?" Caroline added, and Elena gave her a look through narrowed eyes. "Sorry, just wanted to make sure."

"If you must know, Damon's had the ring since Christmas," Elena revealed and Caroline's eyes widened.

"Wow, that's … wow," she said.

Bonnie nodded, but didn't say anything and, again, Elena was struck by her friend's calm reaction. "You didn't happen to know anything about this, did you?" she wondered. "I mean, I would have expected you to be a _little_ more surprised. _I _had no idea he was even thinking about it."

Bonnie didn't even try to deny it. "Yeah, I knew," she admitted. "He showed me the ring a couple of weeks ago, wanted to know if I thought you'd like it."

"And you didn't say anything to Elena?" Caroline exclaimed.

Bonnie raised her eyebrows at Caroline. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," Caroline replied, as if it was completely obvious.

"So you're saying that if we find out that your future boyfriend is planning on proposing, we should tell you?" Elena asked incredulously.

"Definitely. I want to be prepared."

Elena just shook her head. "Well, _I_ am glad that I didn't know," she said. She was extremely glad that Damon hadn't asked Caroline what she thought of the ring, since she probably wouldn't have kept it a secret.

"But I have to admit, the ring _is _beautiful," Caroline told her, scrutinizing the ring. "Tiffany's, platinum, two carat heart shaped diamond. Not cheap, let me tell you. At least …"

"Stop!" Elena exclaimed, covering her ears with her hands and getting a weird look from Caroline. "I don't want to know, it's not about how much the ring cost."

"Of course it is," Caroline protested. "That's the whole point of diamonds, that you can brag to your friends about how expensive they are."

"Seriously, Caroline, I don't want to know," Elena insisted. "I love it, but I don't need to know how much Damon spent on it. It's the thought behind it that's important."

After a moment, during which she seemed about to object, Caroline shrugged. "Fine." She looked down into her ice cream tub. "I'm out. There's more in the freezer, I'll be right back."

Elena waited until she had left the room before turning to Bonnie and shaking her head. "I love Caroline, but sometimes I just don't _get_ her."

Bonnie laughed. "I know what you mean," she agreed. "Now, tell me more about how Damon popped the question."

And, with a smile, Elena started telling her best friend about the, so far, best moment of her life.

* * *

**AN: OK, so I put the 'baby thing' out there. I was already planning on bringing it up – I mean, it is something big that Elena will be giving up – and then both **_**Zoraya Windwalker**_** and **_**kat**_** mentioned it in their reviews of the first chapter. And, yes, I introduced the character of Maddy partly to raise the issue and partly because the idea of writing a scene with Damon and a little kid was just too tempting. I think he would actually be kinda good with kids, after the first, awkward meeting! I hope you liked that part, even if it might not have been introduced the way some of you had expected. Now the big question is if Damon will be able to stick to his decision to not bring it up with Elena or not … I guess you'll have to wait and see! Let me know what you thought!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Well, from the reviews I got for the last chapter it seems like most of you agree with me that not being able to have kids might be something that Elena would miss. I also got a couple of requests to not pull a surprise pregnancy a la "Twilight"! I don't want to give anything away, so I won't really address that … you'll just have to keep reading to find out what I have in store for our favorite couple! OK, that's all for now, let's get on with the story. As always, thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter, you make my day! And lots of hugs for my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter five**

"Hello?"

Elena looked up from the open book on the coffee table when she heard Damon's voice. "In here!" she called back, and he appeared in the doorway.

"Have you even moved since I left this morning?" he asked with a frown when he discovered her on the couch.

It had been two weeks since her birthday, and during those weeks, Elena had been in cramming mode: finals were starting on Monday.

"Of course I have," she replied defensively. "I've been to the bathroom several times, I talked to Alison on the phone for half an hour …" she didn't see any reason to mention that Alison had called to ask about something school related and that they'd spent twenty-five minutes discussing what might be on their first final, "… I microwaved the leftover pizza from last night for lunch and after I ate I even took the book with me outside and sat under the big elm tree for a while."

"But, essentially, you've been studying for eight hours straight?" he concluded, raising his eyebrows in an inquisitive look. "Don't even try to deny it, you know that I'll know if you're lying."

Elena glanced at her watch. It was now almost five thirty, and she had been at it since nine in the morning when Damon had left for Mystic Falls: Alaric had needed help fixing the roof on the house and Damon had volunteered, since he was sick of just sitting around while Elena studied. They were past the phase where he could help her and she had spent the last few days just going through her notes and books again and again.

"These are my _final_ finals we're talking about. Ever," she defended herself. "And after graduation next week, all this will be over. No more classes, no more studying, no more exams, no more _school_."

Damon sighed and slumped down next to her on the couch. "Right now, I don't know who will be happier about that, you or me."

"You might have to put up with me, but _I'm_ the one who has to memorize all this." She gestured to the book. "So I think I have the tougher deal."

"True," he agreed, leaning forward and closing the thick book. "But no more now. You still have tomorrow left to get ready and if you keep going much longer tonight, you'll snap, and I doubt they'll let you take your finals in a straitjacket from a padded cell at the funny farm."

She looked at him through narrowed eyes for a moment, debating whether or not she was going to argue. "Fine," she said after a moment, deciding against it, mostly because she hadn't really been taking anything in for almost an hour. She had gotten sidetracked, thinking about what she was about to bring up; what was going to happen after her graduation. "How did the roof repairs go?" she asked, not wanting to jump into that conversation just yet.

"OK." He shrugged. "We fixed the leak, at least, so they won't have to start gathering two of every animal any time soon, but I'm not really an expert and neither is Rick, so we'll have to see how long it'll last."

"I wish I didn't have to study, I would have gone with you," Elena said wistfully. "I haven't seen Maddy in weeks."

"Weren't we just there for your birthday the weekend before last?" Damon asked incredulously.

"Exactly, _weeks_," she insisted. "She's only one, so much happens at that age, you know."

He just shook his head. "Well, I didn't see her much, which was probably a good thing, you know, with us being up on the roof, lots of tools lying around. Jenna took her to the mall, she said something about getting her an outfit for the ceremony next week. Needless to say, I didn't ask."

"Oh." Elena was a little disappointed: she had hoped for at least a little second hand info about her cousin.

"So how does it feel?" Damon asked, changing the subject. "Are you freaking out that finals are starting on Monday or do you think that you have it under control? Because I can still have a 'talk' with your teachers, take care of your grades."

She thought for a moment before answering, not even acknowledging his not-really-serious suggestion about compelling her teachers into giving her good grades. "I _think_ I've got it. Everything I've read today has felt like repetition, and that has to be a good sign, right? Now, if only I can keep everything _in my head_ and not completely black out when they give me the exam …"

"You'll do great," he assured her and she smiled.

"Thanks to you," she pointed out.

"I know, I'm the best," he replied with a smirk and she rolled her eyes. "But, seriously, you've been studying so hard these past two weeks, I'd be really surprised if you don't at least pass everything."

She nodded. "I hope so." She was hoping that she'd get mostly Bs and maybe a few As, but right now she would settle for just passing all her courses: as long as she did, she'd be able to graduate and that was all she wanted.

"Don't worry about it." He got up from the couch. "Hungry?"

"Yeah," she replied, feeling her stomach start to grumble at the mention of food. "Want to order Chinese? I really don't feel like cooking."

"Sure." Damon got the phone from the table and the take-out menu and called in their usual order.

Elena sat watching him as he spoke to the guy at the restaurant, biting her lip and trying to think of how she was going to bring up the subject she wanted to talk to him about. Realizing that there was no way to casually slip it into the conversation – "Could you pass me the egg rolls?" "Sure. By the way, I was thinking that maybe you could turn me after graduation" didn't really work – she decided to just get it out there when he hung up the phone. She knew that the longer she waited, the harder it would be for her to start the conversation, and the more she would put it off. Procrastination always worked like that.

"The food'll be here in half an hour," he said, putting the phone back on the table and standing up. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"Wait!" she exclaimed, and he paused in the doorway and turned around. "Can we … talk about something?"

Eyebrows raised in a questioning look, he nodded and sat down in the armchair opposite the couch so that he could look at her.

"Conversations that start with 'can we talk about something' usually don't end well." His voice was a little guarded, and she wondered what exactly he thought she wanted to talk about.

"It's nothing bad," she assured him. For a moment, she hesitated, fingering the heavy book in front of her. "I was thinking … after graduation next week … I thought it might be a good time to …" she trailed off, taking a deep breath.

Damon relaxed a little. He was pretty sure he knew where she was going, but he didn't want to push, so he let her take her time to get there. He knew that it must be hard for her.

After another deep breath, she looked up at him. "I want you to turn me."

He didn't say anything right away, not knowing if she was going to say something more. When she didn't, he asked, "Are you sure?"

Elena immediately nodded. "I'm positive."

"Really, really, sure?" he insisted. "Because this isn't something that you can change your mind about once it's done, you know. It's a pretty permanent thing, unless you want a pointy end."

"I'm one hundred percent sure. I've thought about it for a long, _long_ time." She smiled. "I've looked at the different possibilities, and it always comes down to this: I want to be with you forever. Not my forever, that's not enough, _your_ forever. For the rest of eternity. You're all I want, all I'll ever need."

Her words stirred up memories of another conversation, many years ago, and he returned her smile. Flashing to her side, he kissed her hard for a moment before pulling away to look at her again. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to hear you say those words."

"I know," she replied, squeezing his hand.

"I hope you weren't expecting me to argue and try to talk you out of it, because I won't," he said. "You should know by now that I'm _way_ too selfish to do that."

She laughed. "I know, and I wasn't expecting you to try to get me to reconsider. I don't want you to, because if you did I might start wondering if maybe you didn't want me around forever."

"I _think_ I might be able to put up with you," he teased her before getting serious again. "As long as you're sure that this is what you want, I'll do it. I mean, you know that I don't expect you to do this just because _I_ want you to – even though God knows I want you to – and you know that I would never try to convince you to do it or do it against your will."

"I know," she assured him. "And this is my choice, nobody else's."

"Have you talked to anyone else about this?" he asked, and she knew he must mean Jeremy or Bonnie. After all, the number of people she _could_ talk to about this subject was very limited.

"No, I haven't," she replied. "Not yet. I wanted to talk to you about it first."

"I'm glad. So, after graduation?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I guess we could do it before, but, I don't know … for some reason I want to finish this part of my live before I, well, technically won't really have one anymore. Plus, you know, in case I'm all blood thirsty right after, I don't wanna put everyone at the ceremony at risk."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be _all_ about killing everyone in sight." He winked at her to take the edge off the words. "And then?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Then?"

"After, what do you want to do? We will have the entire world at our feet and the rest of eternity at our disposal; we can do anything you've ever dreamt off. Run off and join a circus, walk across the continent, climb Mount Everest, you name it."

His extreme suggestions aside, Elena remembered their study sessions back during her senior year of high school, when he had told her about how he used to live in all these exotic places all over the world. Over the past couple of years, Jeremy had also told her exciting stories about his and Anna's round the world trip. She had been in school for pretty much sixteen years straight now, she deserved a break. And she knew that money wouldn't be an issue: they really would be able to do anything she wanted.

"Maybe we could travel a little?" she suggested, a little hesitantly since she didn't know if this was what he had in mind.

The smile that spread on his face told her that this was what he had been getting at. "Anywhere in particular or do you just want to do the whole world while we're at it? It might take a while but, like I said, we'll have all the time in the world. Literally."

She thought for a moment, trying to remember which stories had stood out the most. "Europe," she then said, and he laughed.

"Europe's pretty big, you need to be a _little_ more specific," he told her.

"Why?" she asked. "You just said that we have time, right? Let's just go and see where we end up."

"I didn't think the whole spontaneous thing was really your cup of tea," he noted. "Don't you want an itinerary and booked flights and hotel rooms?"

She wasn't sure if she should be insulted, but decided to let it go. "Maybe you've rubbed off on me?"

"Hmmm …" He regarded her through slightly narrowed eyes for a moment, running one finger up her arm. "Maybe I'd rather just rub _on_ you?"

Elena couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Was that supposed to be seductive?"

Damon's brow furrowed and he pulled away from her, standing up. "Never mind."

"No, I'm sorry," she said quickly, grabbing him by the hand and easily – which told her that he hadn't really been trying to begin with – pulled him back down on the couch. "It just sounded funny."

"Was _that_ supposed to be an _apology_?" he asked sarcastically. "Because it wasn't a very good one. I think you need to give it another go. Come on, you can do better."

"Can I … make it up to you?" As she spoke, she leaned in closer, stopping when their lips were less than an inch apart.

"Well, I guess you can _try_."

Smiling at his attempt at sounding casual, she closed the distance between them and kissed him, slowly at first. Then his hand travelled up her arm to behind her neck and he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. With a contented sigh, she pushed him back on the couch and moved so that she was straddling him, pushing her body against his.

His hand – the one that wasn't busy holding her to him – found its way under her top, and a shiver ran through her as he traced her spine with one finger. Wanting to be closer, to feel his skin against hers, she got the top button in his shirt undone. But, just as she was about to start working on the next one, there was a knock on the door.

They pulled apart, both looking in the direction of the hallway and the front door, then back at each other. The look on Damon's face made the expression 'like a deer caught in the headlights' flash through Elena's mind, and she had to hold back a giggle.

"The food," she finally managed to figure out. They had ordered Chinese food.

"Right," he said, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

"I'll get it." Elena got up from the couch and went to open the door, revealing the delivery boy from the Chinese restaurant two blocks away. "Hi."

"Hey. It'll be thirty-two dollars."

She got the money from her purse and handed it to him, getting the bag with food in return. "Thanks." She closed the door and went back into the living room.

"Wanna put the food in the fridge and heat it up later?" Damon suggested as soon as she had sat back down on the couch, running a hand up her thigh. She playfully swatted it away.

"I'm really hungry," she told him, opening one of the food containers. "And there's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about. Plus, Chinese food is always better fresh."

He sighed disappointedly but then moved into the armchair, as if trying to distance himself from distraction. "Fine."

Elena went into the kitchen and got plates and glasses and a bottle of soda. After hesitating for a moment, she got a knife and fork as well. She always tried to eat with the chop sticks, but after half an hour, she usually gave up because she was just too hungry. She had never gotten the hang of it: Damon had no problem and had tried to teach her, but she just couldn't figure out how the two sticks were supposed to work together to get the food into her mouth.

She divided the food onto the plates and they ate in silence for a moment.

"I was thinking that I would tell Jenna about the whole vampire thing before you change me," she then said.

Damon looked up from his food with a questioning look on his face. "Instinctively, I want to say that that's a _horrible_ idea. I mean, what do you think the odds are that she _won't_ try to talk you out of it?"

"Not very good, I guess." Elena shrugged. "Not that it would make a difference. But the reason I want to tell her before is that I would like it if Jeremy and Anna could come to my graduation." The idea had started forming in her mind when she'd talked to Jeremy on her birthday. "I got the impression that Jeremy's a little sad about missing so much when it comes to family events, so I thought we could tell Jenna a little earlier than absolutely necessary and that way he could come to my graduation. I know he really wants to see her again, and he's never even met Maddy. The graduation ceremony's here and not in Mystic Falls, so there won't be anyone who shouldn't see him there."

"What about Alison?" Damon wondered. "She knows that your brother 'disappeared', doesn't she? She might not be the brightest knife in the closet, but she's bound to get suspicious."

Elena smacked him on the arm. "Be nice. But the thing is, she never met Jeremy." She had, of course, already thought about that. "She might have seen some pictures, but I thought I could tell her that my cousin, who looks uncannily like my missing brother, is coming."

"OK, that might work." He nodded. "So when were you planning on doing the big revelation? Because I think Jenna _might_ need a little time to get used to the idea before actually seeing Jeremy."

Elena frowned. "Yeah, I think so too. And, also, I want to get it out of the way so I can focus on my finals on Monday. So maybe we could go up there tomorrow? I know that you were already there today, but …"

"It's not a problem," he interrupted her. "If this is the way you want to do it, then we will. It's all up to you."

"Thank you." She smiled at him.

"But I think we should alert Rick to what we're planning," he continued. "Give him a chance to prepare himself for Jenna's inevitable questions. Though if you want to spring it on him, I guess that could be fun too."

"Funny." Elena roller her eyes at him. "But it's probably a good idea to talk to him."

"I'll call him right away," Damon offered. "You finish eating."

"OK."

Damon got up from the armchair and took the phone with him into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. The teacher picked up after three rings.

"_I hope you're not calling to tell me that we made some huge mistake and that the entire house will be flooded the next time it rains."_

Damon laughed. "Actually, no. Just wanted to give you a heads-up."

"_About?"_

"Elena thinks it's time to tell Jenna about the vampire, the witch and the werewolf. Though not literally … I don't think." He wasn't sure if Elena wanted to limit Jenna's knowledge about the supernatural to only vampires.

Alaric was silent for a long moment. _"I guess I've been waiting for this,"_ he then said. _"And I supposed that means that she's … made her decision as well."_

Damon could hear a hint of what he thought was reluctance in the teacher's voice as he spoke. "I hope you're not going to try to talk her out of it," he said warningly. "It's Elena's choice, I haven't done anything to influence her and you and Jenna are just going to have to deal with that."

"_Take it easy,"_ Alaric told him, sounding almost amused. _"Did I say anything about trying to get her to change her mind? I – and I cannot believe I'm actually saying this – I understand her choice, and I know that she's doing what she wants to do. So I'm not going to try to talk her out of it, because I know that there's no point."_

Damon frowned. "Are you feeling alright, Teach? You do know that you're against the whole vampire thing, right? Evil, bloodsucking creatures of the night and all that."

This time there was no mistaking it: Alaric was laughing. _"I know that you probably think I'm still the vampire hating scorned husband looking for revenge who came to Mystic Falls all those years ago, but I haven't been that person in a very long time. Just like you're not the monster who turned my wife and killed people left and right any more. Is this the future I would choose for Elena if it were up to me? No, but I know that this is what she wants and I'm actually OK with that, believe it or not."_

Damon was so stunned by Alaric's speech that it took him a moment to be able to say anything. "You're actually saying that you're _fine_ with this? You're not going to go on about 'how can you do this to Elena, she has her whole life ahead of her' or something like that?"

"_What can I say? I guess I don't see the world in black and white anymore. You've actually made me believe that vampires don't have to be evil, soulless, murderous fiends."_

"Wow, Rick, I don't know what to say." Sure, he knew that he and the teacher had gotten along well in the past few years, but he never could have imagined this. He had been expecting to get into a shouting match: that was why he had closed the door to the living room. "I'm almost a little disappointed, I was expecting an argument, maybe even a full-blown fight."

"_Is it really that much of a surprise?"_ Alaric wondered. _"I mean, we're friends, aren't we?"_

Friends … Yeah, Damon considered Alaric a friend, but he hadn't really thought that the feeling was mutual. "Sure we are."

"_OK, so a heads-up,"_ the teacher said, getting back to the original subject. _"But you're not planning on doing this in the middle of finals, right? So I have at least another two weeks to come up with a way to break this to Jenna without giving her a heart attack."_

"Well, we're not planning the actual _transformation_ for until after Elena's graduation," Damon confirmed. "But we're coming up tomorrow to talk to Jenna, and though I suggested springing it on you out of nowhere, Elena convinced me that it was nicer to give you the chance to prepare yourself."

"_Thanks for that. But why tomorrow? I don't know if it's such a good idea to tell her before, she might not understand. It's probably better to fill her in on everything after the fact, when there's nothing she can do about it."_

Damon thought so too, really, but this was what Elena wanted. "Elena wants Jeremy and Anna to be able to come to her graduation," he explained. "And since I think Jenna _might_ start to wonder if her supposedly missing nephew just shows up, she needs to know the truth before that."

"_OK, I get that. And I know that Jenna will be thrilled to see Jeremy again … once she's gotten over the initial shock of him not actually being dead."_

Damon couldn't help but laugh at that. "Maybe we should have Jeremy fly in tomorrow: distract Jenna with him when she starts asking to many questions," he joked.

Alaric started laughing too. _"Yeah, we might need him as a back-up plan in case she completely freaks out."_

Getting serious again, Damon remembered how Alaric had said that he didn't think Jenna would be able to handle the truth when Jeremy disappeared. "You didn't think that she was ready to hear the truth two years ago," he started, "do you think she is now?"

Alaric thought about that for a moment. _"I think she'll have a hard time accepting it at first,"_ he then said. _"I mean, who wouldn't? You're basically telling her that everything she believes about the world is a lie, not to mention the fact that _we_ have actually been lying to her about Jeremy for over two years. But, kidding aside, I think she'll be OK. She's a different person now than she was back when Jeremy went missing: we have Maddy, life's changed … I think she's ready for the truth, or at least as ready as she'll ever be. Besides, if Elena's going to change, the only other alternative is pretending that the two of you have 'disappeared' like Jeremy and Anna, and that I don't think she'd be able to handle. She's already lost too much family."_

Damon could see the reasoning in that, and only hoped that Alaric was right in thinking that Jenna could handle the truth. Though, in all honestly, they didn't have much choice but to risk it.

* * *

**AN: OK, it's out there, official, whatever you want to call it … but we still have a long way to go before we actually get there. Sorry about the Narnia reference, I'm reading the books right now and it just sort of snuck in there (which, come to think of it, is usually how stuff like that ends up in my stories)! How do you guys think Jenna will react when she finds out the truth? Disbelief? Fury? Fear? Oh, and let me know what you thought!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: OK, we're going to do a bit of a … detour before we get to Jenna finding out. ****But don't worry, we'll get there – _Kelane_, just like you said in your review, I don't get why they keep her out of the loop on the show, with everything that's going on. ****Thanks for all the suggestions on how she will react, by the way – I think I have it pretty much figured out now, but we'll see … last minute changes aren't anything out of the ordinary when it comes to my stories! Oh, and **_**kat**_**: about your comment regarding the power structure in Elena and Damon's relationship – I haven't really thought about it like that, but maybe you're right. I know that, in some scenes, I've made Damon a little (maybe too much?) insecure about his relationship with Elena, but I sort of base that on the last few chapters in _Everything_, where he immediately assumed that she was going back to Stefan. I guess my take on Damon is that he's been more scarred than everyone, maybe even he himself, thinks by his father always and explicitly preferring Stefan during their childhood, then Katherine and then, at least at first (in my story, so far always on the show) Elena. But, generally, it's not something I've done consciously, except for this one instance: when it comes to Elena's turning, I think Damon would – and should – let her do it her way and just be there to support her, however she wants to do it. I'll try to think about this as I keep writing, though – thanks for pointing it out! It's so easy to miss stuff like that when you're in the middle of a story. OK, almost done now. Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter and lots of hugs for my amazing beta, sunshine2006578!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter six**

Damon woke up early the next morning. A vivid dream lingered behind: him and Elena hunting together, the old fashioned way. He wasn't sure if the dream made him miss the days when he hadn't thought twice about feeding from strangers in a dark alley, or if it made him a little uncomfortable. He hadn't had blood straight from the source in six years now, and it wasn't really something he missed … OK, so maybe sometimes, but not the actual _feeding_ part, more the thrill of the chase. Bagged blood was fine with him – as long as it was fresh enough and he could heat it up, it didn't really taste any different – and he didn't think he'd go back to the 'normal' feeding procedure even if Elena decided that she was suddenly OK with it. There had to be other ways to get the adrenaline rush that went with hunting live prey. He had never even considered the possibility of drinking animal blood: Stefan had tried to sell him on the concept more than once in the past few years, but it had never appealed to him. Now, _hunting_ animals was an entirely different matter … especially larger animals, like lions or bears or something like that. No teeny, defenseless squirrels or bunnies for him, no way. Maybe, if his and Elena's trip to Europe extended to Africa, he'd get the chance to try his hand at lion hunting … that might be fun.

The sun was shining in through the window, but he didn't think it was late enough to wake Elena up yet. She had said that she wanted to sleep in a little, since she had been up early every day for weeks now, studying. The drive to Mystic Falls didn't take long, so whether they left at eleven or one wouldn't make a difference. Moving slowly so as not to wake her, he peeked over her shoulder at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Just a few minutes after seven, definitely too early to wake her up.

Feeling a little restless, he slipped out of bed and went into the room they used as a library and study and turned the computer on. On the internet, he googled until he found a site that promised the ten most unusual holiday spots in the world. He knew that Elena would want to do the usual touristy cities – London, Paris, Rome – and sights, but he thought it might be nice to do something a little out there as well. When he got to number two on the list, Transylvania, he laughed. He had been to the castle where Vlad the Impaler, who was believed to have been Bram Stoker's inspiration for his character _Dracula_, had lived. Of course, the wallachian prince hadn't actually _been_ a vampire, just an unusually cruel human. Radu, a vampire Damon had met in Romania, had lived there at the time of Vlad the Impaler's reign, and the stories he had told about the man made a lot of vampires look like saints. Even the vampires in the region had feared the prince, since his method of beheading his victims worked just as well with vampires as it did with humans. Still, Damon thought that Elena might find the story interesting and made a mental note to suggest they go there.

Not having been to Europe for quite some time, he then googled a little aimlessly, looking for hotels, restaurants, sights and other 'normal' tourist things. When they had decided where to start, he was going to make a reservation at the best hotel he could find, start the trip out in style, even if Elena had said that she was OK with just winging it and seeing where they ended up.

* * *

Elena was surprised when she woke up to an empty bed – the times that Damon had gotten up before her in the past four and a half years could easily be counted on the fingers of one hand: he really wasn't much of a morning person. Not wanting to get up straight away, she stayed curled up under the covers and listened closely for a moment. A low, tapping sound told her that he was doing something at the computer in the other room. For a moment, she considered joining him, but then decided against it, the very comfortable bed winning the battle with her curiosity. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was only a little after eight. She could treat herself to another few minutes in bed, they were in no hurry.

Reaching out with one hand, she found Damon's pillow and pulled it into her arms, hugging it to her chest. His familiar scent invaded her senses and she inhaled deeply. He had once told her that he could pick her out of a crowd blindfolded, just going by the way she smelled and her heartbeat. She might not have vampire senses – yet – but she was pretty sure that she would be able to find him by only using her sense of smell, she was so attuned to him. She liked that.

Letting her mind wander, she went over their conversation from yesterday again, a smile on her face. It felt good to have talked about it, made a decision. She had, of course, already known for years that this was what she wanted, but talking to him about it, actually making some sort of plan, if still a little tentative, felt like a step forward.

The only dark cloud on the horizon now – except for her finals, of course, but she wasn't really too worried about them – was telling Jenna. She wished she could just fast forward, or take a peek into the future to see how her aunt would react. She had, cowardly, considered taking the easy way out and asking Alaric to tell Jenna, but knew that she had to do it herself. She just wasn't looking forward to it very much. She was reminded of an incident right before her parents had died – she had just gotten her driver's license and, the first time she had driven her new car to school, she had managed to bump their mailbox when she pulled into the driveway. Almost in tears, she had told her mother, who had taken one look at the car – where there was no visible sign – and then the mailbox – which was a little dented – and given her a big hug, saying that it was OK. She could only wish that this conversation would go that well … though she doubted it. She was hoping that Alaric would be able to keep her aunt from freaking out too much.

Last night, she and Damon had talked about _what_ exactly they were going to tell Jenna. Elena didn't think it was a good idea to reveal absolutely everything – Damon and Stefan's past, Katherine and her uncanny resemblance to Elena, the tomb vampires, Isobel and John, the attack on the Founder's Day celebration all those years ago – and Damon had agreed. They were just going to keep it simple: Damon and Stefan had grown up in Mystic Falls and had been turned by a vampire passing through back in 1864. Both of them had then left town but, still feeling like it was home, returned now and then over the years. They were hoping that Jenna wouldn't make the connection between vampires and the animal attacks that had taken place in Mystic Falls but, if she did, they were going to try to pass it off as a coincidence. Elena had accepted Damon's past a long time ago and even if she would never forget it, it didn't bother her as much anymore. Somehow, she didn't think Jenna would be as understanding.

Glancing at the clock again, she realized that she'd been lost in thoughts for over half an hour. What was Damon doing? Her curiosity finally getting the better of her, she slipped out of bed and pulled on her silk bathrobe before, barefoot, padding out into the hallway and into the next room.

He heard her coming, of course – no sneaking up on a vampire – and when she entered the room, the computer was off and he had turned the chair around to face the doorway.

"Morning," she said, glancing at the dark screen. "What are you up to?"

He looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Playing football," he told her dryly.

"Very funny." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Seriously."

He quickly pulled her into his lap. "Can't a guy have _some_ secrets?" he asked, fingering the knot holding her robe together.

She gave him a suspicious look through narrowed eyes. "A secret about what exactly?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a secret, would it?" He tugged a little on the silky material covering her shoulder and kissed the now exposed skin. "Will you let it go if I promise that you'll like it?"

Elena suddenly found it very difficult to focus on the conversation, an effect that Damon usually had on her – which he, of course, knew and took advantage of. "Is it a surprise for my graduation?" she managed to get out.

"Sort of."

With some effort, she pulled away from him and was met by a disappointed look that almost made her laugh. "OK, fine. But don't make it a habit to keep secrets from me. Now, I'm gonna hit the shower." She got up from his lap.

"Tease," he said accusingly, reluctantly releasing her. "Do you want to get going right away after breakfast?"

She thought about that for a moment. "Maybe we should wait until this afternoon, have dinner there? I want to talk to Jeremy first, let him know what we're doing so he won't be caught off guard when Jenna calls him. And, since it's Sunday, you know that he won't be up until at least noon."

"He _does_ sleep like the dead, no pun intended." He flashed her a smirk. "I'll text the good teacher and let him know that we'll be there, say around five, five thirty, then?"

"Great." Squeezing his shoulder, she left the room and went back into their bedroom, continuing into the en-suite bathroom where she turned the shower on.

She knew that she was procrastinating a little by wanting to wait until the afternoon to talk to Jenna, but she really did want to give Jeremy the heads-up first. She had planned on giving his cell number to Jenna, so it was probably good if he was prepared for a call.

She wondered how Jeremy would react to Jenna finding out the truth about him and Anna. For a while now, she'd had the feeling that the whole secrecy thing was starting to get to him. In the beginning, he had been excited about the no-parents and slightly mysterious aspects of his new life, about being his own person with nobody to answer to, but she thought that had passed. Now that he and Anna had settled down a little – they would be staying in New York at least until Jeremy finished college – she thought that he might be hoping to be able to start building some sort of relationship with Jenna again. And she didn't think that New York had been a coincidence, either. There were universities with good journalist programs all over the country, but they had ended up at one within a ten hour drive of Mystic Falls.

Lost in her own thoughts, she pulled off her bathrobe and hung it on a peg on the door before stepping into the shower, letting the warm water wash over her.

Jenna's reaction was another mystery. She had tried to imagine how her aunt might take the news of vampires being real, but she couldn't quite picture it. She tried to take her own reaction into consideration, way back when she had first found out that Stefan was a vampire. And disbelief might be an initial reaction for Jenna as well – who would believe you if you told them that vampires were real, after all? – but after that … They should probably expect her to be mad at them: they had been lying to her for years. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, she would also find out that, not only was her nephew already a vampire, her niece was planning on becoming one too. That was enough to make anyone freak out.

She was so intent on her internal musings that she didn't hear the bathroom door open and close. When Damon stepped into the shower behind her, she jumped a little.

"Did I scare you?" he asked in an amused voice.

"I just didn't hear you, I was thinking."

"Never a good idea," he teased, and she tried to elbow him in the ribs without succeeding. She could hear him laugh. "About?" he then asked, getting serious. He poured some of her strawberry scented body wash into his hands and started massaging her back and shoulders. With a sigh, Elena let her head fall forwards to give him better access.

"About how Jenna will react," she replied. "Mmm, that feels good."

"You're so tense," he noted. "All this studying isn't good, haven't I always said that? Better to just skip the whole school thing. And I think it's safe to assume that Jenna's going to freak out."

"That's probably an understatement."

"You know, if she's _really_ freaked, I can always … calm her down a little," he suggested. "No major intrusions or anything, just make her … more inclined to accept what we're telling her without screaming 'monster' and alerting the villagers with the best pitchforks."

"I know, and you might have to," Elena agreed, ignoring his little joke. "I hope not, but it's a definite possibility." She had already thought about that: though she definitely didn't like the idea of meddling with Jenna's mind, if she really freaked out, they might have to.

"Let's just deal with that when – _if_ – we have to."

She nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

"And, for now …" Damon trailed off, kissing her neck and letting one hand sneak around to caress her stomach, "… how about a little distraction?"

Elena smiled, knowing that he couldn't see her. "Hmm, I don't know …" She pretended to think about it for a moment. "I could get a couple more hours studying done … ah!" His exploring hand sliding lower, between her legs, cut her off.

"You want to study?" he mumbled, voice innocent, in her ear, taking a step closer so that her back was pressed against his body. "Be my guest."

She knew that he was teasing her, like she had been teasing him a moment ago, and she wanted to come up with some snappy comeback, but, at that moment, he slipped one finger inside her, and her mind went completely blank.

"Maybe … a little later," she managed to get out, and he laughed quietly.

"If that's what you really want."

His free hand, which had been resting against her back, found its way around to her stomach as well, then higher and he let his thumb graze over her nipple before cupping her breast. With a sigh, Elena arched her back against his touch, her head falling back to rest on his shoulder. Damon took advantage of that, kissing her neck and jaw line. Wanting more contact, Elena twisted her head so that she could reach his lips. The kiss wasn't the most comfortable they'd ever shared, and their current position was more than a little awkward, but, at the moment, neither of them cared.

Feeling him hardening against her back, Elena slid a hand between their bodies and ran one finger along his length. Groaning into her mouth, he picked up his pace, sliding his finger faster in and out of her but, after only a moment, his finger disappeared. She was about to object but then he pulled her around so they were face to face and kissed her.

The water cascading down their bodies made their skin slick, and as he tried to pick her up, his hand slipped. She pulled her lips away from his for a moment. "Do not drop me," she told him sternly. "I don't want to wear a cast in my graduation pictures."

Damon rolled his eyes and, successfully this time, lifted her up. "Have I _ever_ dropped you?" he asked dryly, rhetorically she assumed.

Almost automatically, she wrapped her legs around his waist. "Well, no, but there's a first time for everything."

He didn't even bother responding to that. Instead, he moved forward a little so that Elena's body was against the tiled wall. His lips found hers and then, almost agonizingly slowly, he pushed into her. Her fingers dug into his back and she pressed herself impossibly closer to him.

Lips never leaving hers, he started moving inside her, still so slowly. With her body more or less pinned between his and the wall, he let one hand slide up her side and cup her breast, twisting her nipple between his fingers and making her moan into the kiss.

He pulled away from her a little. "You like that?"

All she could do was nod, her brain too scrambled to be able to form words.

For what felt like an eternity, he kept up the slow, even pace. Elena felt the fire start to burn inside her and wanted to urge him on, make him move faster, deeper, harder into her. But, in her position, there wasn't much she could do. Just when she thought that she wouldn't be able to take it much longer, though, he seemed to be feeling the same way. The hand that had been cupping her breast trailed down her stomach to where their bodies were joined together. Starting to move faster, he pressed down on her most sensitive spot and, after only a moment or two, she tumbled over the edge, feeling him follow her soon after.

Neither of them spoke for several minutes, both breathing hard. "Wow," she then mumbled.

He laughed in her ear.

"I realized that it had been a while since we'd … showered together," he said. "Thought it would be a nice start to a Sunday."

"Good thinking," she told him, reluctantly loosening her hold around his neck. "Only problem now is that I still need a shower."

He carefully put her down, making sure that she didn't stumble or slip before letting her go, and then winked at her. "I can help, if you want."

She laughed. "Somehow, I don't think I'll get much cleaner your way."

"Ah, well, it was worth a try." He kissed her one last time, then stepped out of the shower.

Since her legs were still a little shaky and her breathing hadn't yet returned to normal, Elena just stood under the warm spray of the water for a moment.

He really did know the best way to distract her.

* * *

When Elena finally got out of the shower, Damon insisted on taking her out for breakfast. She realized that he was probably still trying to distract her from thinking too much about the coming conversation with Jenna, but she wouldn't say no to pancakes at Elmo's for anything.

They took their time eating and when they came back to the apartment, it was a few minutes before noon. Elena decided that it should be safe to call Jeremy: even if he was still asleep, it was definitely time for him to get up now.

To her surprise, he answered the phone after only one ring and sounded uncharacteristically awake, considering the time of day.

"_I have finals next week too, you know,"_ he told her with a laugh when she asked if he had been up for long.

"Right," she replied. She hadn't thought about that. "So, what's up, other than school?"

"_Not much,"_ he told her. _"How about you, ready for college to finally be over?"_

"Oh, yeah, definitely."

He laughed again. _"You have to make Damon take tons of pictures at the ceremony, OK? Or maybe he could film …"_

"Actually," she interrupted him, seeing her opening. "I was thinking that maybe you and Anna could come?"

The line was silent for a moment. _"Yeah, I'm not all that interesting in playing stalker and hiding out in the bushes, even if it is for your graduation,"_ he then said. _"Sorry."_

"What if you wouldn't have to hide?"

"_What are you talking about?"_

"We're telling Jenna," Elena blurted out. "Everything. Or, well, not _everything_ everything, she doesn't need all the details, but about vampires and all that, and that would mean you and Anna too. If that's OK, I mean."

Again, he was silent, this time for so long that Elena started wondering if he'd hung up. But then his voice came back over the line. _"I'm guessing that means that you've decided to … take the plunge too?"_

"Yeah," she admitted. "Any advice?"

"_I think you have a pretty good teacher, you don't need advice from a newbie like me,"_ he said. _"I'm sure Damon has everything under control."_

"I'm not talking about the practical things," Elena replied. "He probably has everything about _that_ figured out. I meant more along the lines of what to expect, the biggest differences, things like that, you know."

"_Oh."_ He thought for a moment. _"I don't know, I mean, Anna says that it's very individual. I know that I was really hyper for a couple of weeks, but that might just be me."_

"Yeah, I always did try to get Mom and Dad to have you tested for ADD," she teased.

"_Whatever. Other than that … I guess Bonnie's making you a ring too?"_

Elena bit her lip. "I haven't actually talked to her about it, but I hope so."

"_Are you worried that she won't like your decision?"_ he asked knowingly.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I mean, I hope she'll understand. We talked about it a little back when you … anyway, she told me that I could talk to her about it if I wanted to, so I sort of assumed that she would be OK with it, but you never know. She might see it completely differently now that it's an actual fact."

"_Nah, Bonnie's cool,"_ Jeremy brushed it off. _"She's been just like normal with me every time I've seen her."_

Bonnie had gone with Elena to New York a couple of times in the last year and, Elena had to admit, she had seemed fine with Jeremy.

"I hope so."

"_Don't worry too much about it,"_ he suggested. _"So, advice … yeah, the whole sun thing takes a while to get used to. I still have to wear sunglasses whenever I go out in the summer, you know that. And … I really think you'll be fine. It's not as big an adjustment as you probably think. At least I didn't think it was. And you have a good reason to do this."_

"Yeah." Elena nodded to herself.

"_So you're telling Jenna?"_ Jeremy changed the subject. _"When?"_

"Today, actually," she revealed. "We want to give her some time to get used to the idea before she sees you at the graduation ceremony. You will come, right?"

He laughed at the urgency in her voice. _"Of course. I've actually been hoping that this would happen in the not too distant future so that I could see Jenna again. I've missed her, and I haven't even seen Madison, I hate that."_

"I know Jenna will be so happy to see you again. After she gets over the initial shock, I mean."

"_Damon will be standing by if she completely freaks out when you tell her, though, right? I mean, it's a lot to take in."_

"Absolutely, we have Plan B in place," Elena assured him. "And I thought I'd give her your number, I'm sure she'll want to call you."

"_Yeah, that's … fine."_ He sounded a little uncertain.

"OK, what's with the hesitation?"

"_I just … do you think she'll be really mad at me?"_ For a moment, Elena thought that Jeremy sounded like her ten-year-old little brother again, that one time when he had accidentally broken their mom's favorite picture frame.

"I don't know, Jere," she told him gently. "I mean, she went through hell when she thought you were dead and I'm sure she'll be really happy that you're still … well, _sort_ of alive, I guess." Like she had hoped, he laughed at that. "But, yeah, I think she'll be mad, you should probably be prepared for that. But she'll get over it once she realizes that this means she'll get to see you again."

"_I guess I have that coming,"_ he concluded matter-of-factly. _"I can take her yelling at me a little, no problem."_

It was Elena's turn to laugh. "We'll see how she reacts. If all goes well, I'm sure she'll call you later today."

"_I'll keep my phone with me at all times then."

* * *

_

**AN: A bit of a filler chapter, I know, but I thought it was time for some smut! Hope you liked it, let me know!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I'm updating tonight instead of tomorrow morning, since I thought I'd try to ****(at least a little)**** make up for the fact that there's no new episode tonight for you Americans**** out there**** (I can't believe there won't be one until April, that sucks!) OK, time for the big revelation! I got a lot of suggestions about how Jenna might react, and I've tried to take as much as I possibly can into consideration, but this chapter was still difficult to write. I didn't want her to completely freak out, since I don't want Damon to have to meddle with her mind and make her forget everything, but she can't take it all in stride either, so I've tried to come up with something that is, hopefully, believable, but still not too extreme. I hope you like it! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter – I'm glad you liked the 'filler', I think I can promise that there will be more Delena scenes like that before we get to the end of this story – and lots of hugs for my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter seven **

Damon tried to keep Elena distracted the entire drive to Mystic Falls, talking about Europe and the cities they would visit and the places off the beaten tourist tracks that he remembered from his time there and wanted to show her. She listened intently, drinking up every word about the Museé des Egouts that explored the sewers under Paris, Cimitero Monumentale dei Padri Cappuccini with its morbid art in Rome, the Old Operating Theater in London, Kuznechny market in St. Petersburg, and asking every question she could think of. Still, when they passed the sign welcoming them to Mystic Falls, she fell silent in the passenger seat and started biting her lip, a sign of anxiety that he had learned to identify over the past four and a half years.

"Don't assume the worst before you've even talked to Jenna," he said, reaching out to take her hand. "There's no point in getting all worked up when you don't even know how she'll react."

Elena glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure she won't be _happy_ about it," she replied.

"But, on the plus side, she'll also find out that Jeremy isn't really dead," he reasoned. "Or, well, not _gone_, at least."

Elena sighed: that was what she was hoping would take the edge off the situation, Jenna finding out that she could see Jeremy again. But, still …

"Rick will be there," Damon continued. "And I'll be right there, I won't leave your side, you know that."

"Somehow I'm not completely sure that'll improve the situation once the truth's out."

He glanced at her. "Are you worried that she'll start screaming 'vampire' and try to banish me from the house with garlic and crosses? Don't worry, I've met my fair share of Van Helsing wannabes, I can handle myself."

Like he had hoped, Elena couldn't help but laugh at that scenario, even if it was a brief laugh.

"OK, so that probably won't happen," she replied. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she's suddenly afraid of you."

"Very likely," Damon agreed, nodding. "But that'll pass once she's sure I'm not going to go crazy and slaughter all of you in your sleep or something. Besides, the past five years should be a plus in my column. I haven't tried to bite her even _once_ in all that time. That has to count for _something_, right?"

"I'll be sure to remind her of that," Elena said sarcastically.

"What I'm trying to get at is that she'll understand that it's not like in the horror stories," he explained. "Vampires aren't all blood crazy maniacs out to kill and maim and torture. She'll see that, she's not stupid."

Elena nodded slowly. "I hope so."

At that moment, they turned onto Elena's street and Damon pulled up in front of the house. "Showtime," he announced, turning the engine off.

Elena took a deep breath, looking at the house as if she expected – and half-hoped – that something large and scary would burst out through the front door and attack them. Then she unbuckled her seatbelt with a determined look on her face. "OK, might as well get it over with."

"That's the spirit!" Damon exclaimed in a mock-cheerful voice and Elena gave him a look before getting out of the car.

"I think you should let me do most of the talking," she said as they walked up the path to the porch. "Jenna might have an easier time accepting it if I'm the one who tells her."

Damon thought that was probably just wishful thinking – Jenna was going to freak out no matter who told her – but if this was the way Elena wanted to do it, then he wouldn't object. "Sure."

"And don't bring up the whole compulsion thing, she doesn't need to know about that, it would just freak her out more. And we're not bringing up Isobel, I'm sure Alaric doesn't want Jenna to have to worry about that and neither do I." Elena reached out to open the door, but Damon grabbed her hand.

"Look at me," he told her, and she turned to face him. "We talked about all this last night, remember?" She nodded. "No matter what happens, things will be OK. Worst case scenario, she'll be so scared that I'll have to tamper with her mind a little, but I really don't think it'll come to that. I think it's more likely that she'll freak out at first and then accept what we tell her and realize that it's not the end of the world. So try to relax, OK?"

She nodded. "I _am_ trying, but it's not easy."

"I know." He beat her to it and opened the door, taking her hand and squeezing it supportively before pulling her along into the house. "Anybody home?"

A second later, Jenna appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, a big but slightly confused smile on her face. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked incredulously, giving Elena a hug. "Don't you have finals tomorrow? Shouldn't you be cramming, like any self-respecting college student who has put off studying until the last possible second?"

"I need some moral support," Elena replied. "And isn't it every college students' privilege to mooch off their relatives? I'm just trying to take advantage of that as long as possible."

Jenna laughed. "Well, mooch away. Dinner's just ready, and there's enough for you too. You're lucky Rick bought a steak that's much too big for just the two of us."

Alaric had, of course, known that they were coming, so that probably wasn't as big a coincidence as Jenna thought.

Damon gave Elena a questioning look – hadn't she said that they might as well get it over with? – but she shook her head. "Later," she mumbled quietly as they followed Jenna into the kitchen, knowing that he could hear her.

"OK." They were doing it her way, after all. If she wanted to procrastinate, that was her business. But if he saw any sign that she might chicken out of the whole thing, he was going to step in.

Damon spent most of the dinner watching Elena and Maddy: Elena had quickly offered to help the little girl with her food and Jenna had happily handed over the plastic spoon. It turned out that Maddy didn't so much eat her food as wear it: she had mashed potatoes on her hands, in her hair, on her clothes, even on the back of her t-shirt.

"How did you manage that, huh baby?" Elena asked amusedly, wiping the food off with a paper towel. "You just eat with your whole body, don't you?"

She was rewarded with a laugh and some mashed potatoes in the face.

As Damon watched the two of them together, the upcoming conversation was obscured by another issue, one he had tried very hard not to think too much about in the past couple of weeks. The stranger in the park and what he had said came back forcefully, and he realized that he couldn't do it. He couldn't pretend like it was OK to not bring up the whole kids-thing just because Elena hadn't mentioned it, not even knowing that talking about it might very well make her reconsider. He had to talk to her, had to make sure that she knew what she was giving up. She was only twenty-two, after all, and it probably wasn't something she considered a problem right now, but she might regret it later. He didn't want her to resent him ten, fifty, a hundred years down the line, when she regretted not getting to have kids of her own. And if she ended up changing her mind … he'd just deal with that. Her happiness was the most important thing in the world to him, after all.

But that conversation would have to wait for another time.

When everyone had finished, Alaric gave Damon a pointed look. "Why don't you and I clear up in here so Jenna and Elena can have some girl time?"

"Absolutely," Damon agreed.

Elena gave him a frightened look, but he just squeezed her hand under the table, trying to tell her that she would be fine by using that simple touch. Biting her lip, she got up from the table. "Come on, Maddy, let's get you cleaned up first," she said, picking the little girl up out of her high chair.

"I'll take care of that," Alaric objected, taking his daughter from Elena. "You and your aunt go in the living room, relax. Have a talk."

Casting one last, pleading look in Damon's direction, Elena reluctantly nodded. "OK."

"Come on," Jenna said, looping her arm with Elena's and lowering her voice to a stage whisper. "It's not every day that I get out of doing the dishes when I haven't cooked, let's get out of here before they change their minds."

"Yeah," Elena replied weakly, letting her aunt pull her along into the living room.

"So, I sort of get the feeling that this isn't just a courtesy call," Jenna joked when they had sat down on the couch. "Something up?"

Taking a deep breath, Elena decided to just jump right in. Beating around the bush wouldn't make the conversation any easier, after all. Better to use the band-aid approach and just get it out there. "Yeah, actually, we wanted to talk to you about something."

Jenna nodded knowingly. "I sort of got that feeling on your birthday. I mean, I wouldn't have minded if you had waited a _little_ longer, but you _have_ finished college soon and twenty-two isn't _that_ young. Besides, you've been together for a long time now, I can't say I'm all that surprised."

Elena looked at her in bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

Jenna returned the confused look and the question. "What are _you_ talking about?"

"Nuh-uh, I asked you first."

"Well, weren't you going to tell me that you're pregnant?"

Elena's eyebrows flew up and she almost laughed out loud. "No. No, no. That's not ... no." What was with people immediately – OK, so just Jenna and Caroline, but still – jumping to that conclusion?

"Oh." Jenna seemed a little relieved, but then a frown appeared on her face. "Then what did you want to talk to me about?"

"OK …" Elena started, trying to figure out the best way to say it, "… I know that this is going to be hard to believe at first, but just hear me out and then you can ask all the questions you want, OK?"

A suspicious look on her face, Jenna nodded.

"There's … more to this world than you might think," Elena said, carefully watching Jenna. She had rehearsed this part of the conversation in her mind dozens of times in the past day; it was the only part of it she _could_ rehears, not knowing how Jenna would react, what kind of questions she was going to ask. "Some of the stories we're told as kids are actually true. Well, sort of."

"What, you mean like ghosts and fairies and witches and stuff like that?" An amused look appeared on Jenna's face.

Of course she would go with the fairytale version. "I don't know about ghosts and fairies, I haven't actually met any. But witches, yes. And, also … vampires are real."

She could see the disbelief in Jenna's eyes. "Vampires? Like, Dracula and all that? Drinking blood, sleeping in coffins, being afraid of crosses and garlic and getting killed by a stake through the heart?"

"Well, the thing about crosses and garlic being bad for them is apparently a myth, and they don't sleep in coffins as far as I know, but the blood and stake through the heart thing … that part's true."

"And Dracula wasn't actually a vampire," Damon joined in the conversation, coming into the room. Alaric trailed behind him with Maddy. "Not the man who inspired the story, anyway – he was just an unusually cruel human – and Bram Stoker didn't get much right."

"OK …" Jenna sounded like she was just humoring them. "Let's just say that I believe all of this. Why are you telling me?"

Damon sat down next to Elena and took her hand, squeezing it and giving her an encouraging look.

"The thing is, Aunt Jenna … Damon is a vampire."

Jenna looked from her to Damon for a moment. "Damon's a vampire?"

"Yes."

To everyone's surprise, Jenna started laughing. "I'm sorry, that's just …" She couldn't continue, but started laughing again. After a moment, she managed to get herself under control. "If this is some way to paint a worst case scenario so that I won't be too disappointed that you actually _are_ pregnant, you really should have come up with a better story. And just tell me the truth, OK, I'm not gonna go all judgmental on you."

Damon frowned at Jenna's assumption. He had, of course, heard her and Elena's conversation from the kitchen, but he had thought that Jenna had believed Elena when she had said that this wasn't the case.

"This _is_ the truth!" Elena exclaimed exasperatedly. She had expected Jenna to be frightened, freak out … but not this refusal to even believe what they were trying to tell her. Why would they lie about something as out there as vampires?

"And vampires can't actually have kids," Damon piped in, figuring he might as well get the subject on the table. It had been a while since he had told Elena that little tidbit of vampire knowledge, and if he pointed it out again, she might start thinking about it herself, saving him the trouble of bringing it up. "So you _really_ don't have to worry about that."

Elena could see that Jenna was about to start laughing again. "So you're trying to tell me that all the time I spent worrying that you would get my niece knocked up before she was even out of high school was all for nothing?" she asked, barely able to conceal the amusement in her voice.

"They're really telling you the truth," Alaric said, jumping into the conversation. "Vampires are real and Damon is one."

Jenna nodded, biting her lip to keep from bursting out laughing again. "OK. I believe you."

Damon sighed impatiently. "I really didn't think you'd be this hard to convince, but you're obviously going to need a demonstration." And, before Elena or Alaric had a chance to stop him, he forced his face to change: eyes darkening, veins around them tightening, fangs descending.

Jenna watched the transformation with wide, frightened eyes.

"Now do you believe us?" Damon asked.

Jenna scrambled backwards on the couch, away from Damon. "What are you?"

He sighed. "Elena already told you, I'm a vampire."

"No, vampires … they're not real," Jenna insisted, shaking her head, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself more than anything.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but yes, we are."

"No! Get … get away from me! Get out!" Jenna got up from the couch and took Maddy from Alaric, hugging the girl to her chest and backing into a corner, as far away from Damon as she could get but still keeping her eyes intently fixed upon him, as if expecting him to leap across the room and attack her at any moment. Which he, of course, could if he wanted to.

Damon shook his head as Elena pulled him up from the couch and dragged him along out into the hallway. "Was that really necessary?" she hissed.

He let his features return to normal again. "She wouldn't believe us," he defended himself.

"She would have, eventually. You didn't have to scare her half to death just because you're impatient!"

"She'll get over it," he brushed it off. "Let's just get through the rest of the conversation, get everything out in the open."

"I think it's best if you stay out here," Elena reasoned. "She's already scared enough as it is."

"I'm not going to just stand out here in the hallway and wait for you to convince her that I'm not going to eat her!" he objected, raising his voice.

"Shhh!" she hushed him, glancing at the doorway to the living room. "Fine, go upstairs into my room or something. Just let me handle it!" She gave him a stern look and, after having rolled his eyes at her and under much grumbling, he climbed the stairs.

Elena waited until he had disappeared and then carefully peeked into the living room, seeing that Jenna had returned to her seat on the couch. But she was still clutching Maddy to her and casting frightened glances at the doorway now and then. Damn it, why did Damon have to do that? Now Jenna might never understand.

"Sorry about that," Elena apologized as she reentered the room. Jenna jumped at her voice but, seeing that Damon wasn't with her, she relaxed a little again.

"Just don't let that … that _thing_ anywhere near me or my daughter."

Elena felt a stab of pain when she heard her aunt's harsh words. "Aunt Jenna, please," she started, sitting back down on the couch but leaving some space between herself and her aunt. "He's still the same person you've known for over five years, nothing's changed except the fact that now you know the truth. Isn't it better like this? No more secrets."

"Nothing's changed, how can you say that?" Jenna gave her an incredulous look that soon turned accusing. "But you already knew what he was! How long have you known?"

Elena sighed. "Pretty much since I met him," she admitted reluctantly, knowing that this wouldn't make Jenna any less upset. "Him and Stefan."

Eyes widening even more, Jenna shook her head. "So Stefan's a … he's a … like _that_ too?"

"Yeah, he is." Elena nodded. "They _are_ brothers, they're just older than you think."

"But how can you be so calm about this?" Jenna exclaimed. "How can you be with someone, some_thing_, like that? He's a monster!"

Elena immediately started shaking her head. "He's not, and neither is Stefan. Not everything about the stories is true. Vampires aren't monsters, they're people, just like us. They just … have a different diet, that's all." She saw no reason to point out that there were in fact vampires who lived like the ones in the stories: feeding from humans and then killing them. Hopefully, Jenna would never have to come in contact with thar part of the vampire world.

"What, so when you go to McDonalds, you order a hamburger and he has the kid in the drive-through window?" Jenna's voice had taken on a hysterical edge. Still, Alaric couldn't help but laugh, causing her to turn on him. "And you knew about this too, didn't you? You knew what he was and you still let him into our house, near our daughter! You let him be alone with Elena!"

He immediately stopped laughing. "Like Elena just said, not all vampires are the monsters that the horror stories want us to think," he tried to reason. "I am absolutely certain that Damon isn't a threat to _anyone_, let alone the people that he cares about. He would never do _anything_ to hurt Elena or Maddy or you or me. He's not some sort of soulless monster. He has complete control over … that part of his personality and you definitely don't have to worry about him being around Maddy. Do you think I would have let him anywhere near her if I thought for _one second _that he could hurt her?"

"How long have _you_ known about this?" Jenna continued in an accusatory voice, as if she hadn't heard a word he had just said.

"About Damon and Stefan? Since I came to Mystic Falls. About vampires? Much longer, longer than Elena has."

Elena gave him a pointed look, trying to remind him not to bring Isobel into the conversation. No need to freak Jenna out even more.

"This is just …" Jenna said, pulling Elena's attention back to her aunt, who was shaking her head. "It's too much, I can't wrap my head around it."

"I know," Elena said quickly. "I couldn't believe it at first when I found out either, but it's really not that big a deal. But Damon has never tried to hurt you or Maddy, has he?"

Jenna frowned. "I guess not. But … I don't know if I can look at him the same way now, I'm not sure that I can trust him, especially not around Maddy."

"Why don't you give him a chance to prove to you that he's not so different from us, and then we'll see?" Alaric suggested. "If you're still uncomfortable around him, you won't have to see him, OK? I promise."

Elena gave Alaric an exasperated look, but he just shrugged, and she supposed he had a point. They couldn't force Jenna to accept Damon unless they tampered with her mind, but Elena didn't want to do that if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

"Maybe," Jenna allowed, and in her aunt's voice Elena thought she could hear a hint of the confused emotions she remembered experiencing herself when she'd found out about Stefan all those years ago: fear and disbelief mixed with a kind of exhilarating curiosity.

"So can he come back downstairs?" she asked carefully. "I bet you have a lot of questions, and it's probably best if he answers them."

Still looking a little frightened, Jenna nodded. "He's not going to look like _that_, is he?"

"No, no," Elena assured her. "He looks just like normal most of the time."

"OK." Jenna looked relieved at that. "Aren't you going to get him?"

"I heard you from upstairs," Damon said, appearing in the doorway.

Jenna jumped a little and hugged Maddy tighter. The little girl, who up until now hadn't objected to her mother's slightly rough handling, made a sound of complaint. "I'm sorry, baby," Jenna immediately apologized, releasing her grip on Maddy a little.

Slowly, not wanting to scare Jenna, Damon came into the room and sat down in an armchair. He didn't want to stand up for the entire conversation, but the couch was probably out of the question. Too close to Jenna and Maddy.

"Here," he said, tossing a plastic bag of vervain on the table. "Take this. If I go all crazy mass murderer on you, you can crush some of that against my skin. Hurts like a bitch."

"Language!" Elena chastised him as Jenna picked up the plastic bag.

"What is it?" she asked, opening it and taking out a handful of vervain, sniffing it a little suspiciously.

"It's an herb called vervain," Elena explained. "It's harmful to vampires. Not that you're going to need it." She gave Damon a pointed look.

"Of course not, I'm just trying to make her feel a little more comfortable," he explained. "Wouldn't you want something that you could protect yourself with if you were in her shoes?" His reasoning actually made a lot of sense, and Elena wondered why she hadn't thought about it herself.

"Well …" Jenna started, giving Damon a curious and – at least Elena thought so, though it might just be wishful thinking – a little less fearful look. "Thank you … I guess."

"You're welcome, I guess," he replied with a smirk.

"So … are there a lot vampires in the world?" Jenna asked timidly.

"Maybe we should just start from the beginning?" Elena suggested.

"Probably a good idea," Alaric agreed.

"Well then, sit back and relax, kiddies," Damon started. "This'll be a story you won't forget in a hurry."

* * *

**AN: OK, so the first part is out there. Vampires are real – I hope Jenna's reaction was at least believable. But it's not over yet, there's still the tiny little detail of Jeremy to deal with. That will be coming up next but, in the mean time, please let me know what you thought about this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Part two of The Talk – time to tell Jenna about Jeremy. I'm glad that most of you seemed to think that Jenna's reaction in the last chapter was believable, I just hope you still think so after this chapter … trying to write down how she might react to finding out that Jeremy was a vampire was hard! I don't want her to freak out too much, but she has to get mad – they have been lying to her for years, about something as important as that, so … let me know what you think, good or bad. I can take it … I think … **_**QueQuowle**_**, no, Damon's not going to tell Jenna what happened back in 1864, that's not the 'beginning' I was referring to in the last chapter. I thought it was time for some vampire 'history' – famous vampires through time, vampire one-oh-one, vampire myths and lore, stuff like that. Jenna is completely new to this, after all, and I don't think even Elena knows that much about the world she is planning on joining. Plus, I actually had a lot of fun writing that part of this chapter. And, yes, I'm utilizing my creative freedom … a lot! ****Oh, and I'm channeling a little Spike in this chapter, let's see if anyone picks up on it … And, as always, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and lots of hugs for my amazing beta, sunshine2006578.**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter eight **

"Where to begin …" Damon mused out loud.

"How do you …" Jenna started, but cut herself off. "I mean, I've seen you outside in the middle of the day, aren't vampires supposed to be burned in the sun? Or is that a myth too, like garlic and crosses?"

Damon shook his head. "Nope, that's unfortunately _not_ a myth; the sun makes for very dead vampires." He held up his hand. "Luckily, I used to know a very gifted witch who made me and Stefan magic rings which make it possible for us to go out in the sunshine. Without it, I'd end up a crispy critter faster than you could say 'barbecued vampire'."

Jenna turned to Elena. "So witches are real too, you weren't just saying that?"

"No, they're real too," Elena replied. For a moment, she considered telling her aunt about Bonnie, but decided that that was Bonnie's own story to tell, if she wanted to. "But they're not exactly what the stories say either: no warts or pointed hats or flying on brooms." She frowned. "At least I don't _think_ they do that …"

"Getting back on topic," Damon said, giving Elena a pointed look. This wasn't the time to discuss witches and the other supernatural beings out there – they had already decided to try to stay away from that subject as much as possible. "I was born in 1842." He paused to gauge Jenna's reaction.

"So you're really …" Jenna seemed to be counting backwards in her head. "A hundred and seventy-three years old?"

"Pretty much," he confirmed.

Jenna was quiet for a moment. "I always knew he was too old for you!" she then said, turning to Elena and giving her a slightly uncertain smile. Elena couldn't help but laugh; things seemed to have taken a turn for the better. For now, she added mentally. The worst was, possibly, yet to come.

"On the other hand, I'll always be young and hot," Damon continued, sounding a little smug. "Vampires don't age, that much is true. I'll always look like this."

"The fountain of youth …" Jenna mumbled. "You're probably lucky that more people don't know about this, they would be lining up to get turned into vampires to stay young forever."

"There are those who do," he revealed, and Elena shot him another pointed look. No Isobel, they had agreed on that. "But we try to keep the vampire population as small as possible." He flashed Jenna a slightly predatory smile. "Keep the prey in the dark about our existence."

Elena saw Jenna tense a little at the mention of 'prey' and cursed the fact that she wasn't close enough to Damon to be able to kick him in the shins. As it was, she had to settle for yet another pointed look.

"You … hunt humans?" Jenna asked in a small voice.

"No, no," Damon immediately assured her. "I stick to bagged blood."

"Bagged? Like from the hospital?" That idea seemed to make Jenna a little less uneasy.

"Yep. And I don't really need that much, a glass a day is enough," Damon continued. "I eat normal food too, which you've probably noticed. I just need blood to survive, the same way you need food."

"But if someone's bleeding and you smell blood …" Jenna started, "… that must be hard to resist, right?"

Damon sighed and rolled his eyes. "You've watched too many vampire movies," he told her in a disappointed voice. "Only inexperienced vampires let the thirst get the better of them like that. We _do_ try to be inconspicuous, and attacking people left and right doesn't really go with that. And, since most of us can't go out during the day, there aren't that many who live among humans like I do."

Jenna still seemed a little hesitant to believe him.

"It's true, Aunt Jenna," Elena piped in. "Don't you think that I've accidentally gotten a paper cut or something like that in the past four years? And he hasn't tried to eat me once." She saw no reason to reveal the fact that Damon actually did drink her blood on a regular basis. Not only was she not keen on discussing her sex life with her aunt: she was absolutely certain that Jenna would _not_ be able to handle that information.

A shaky laugh escaped Jenna at Elena's joke. "So when were you … turned, is that the word?" she asked, obviously wanting to get away from the topic of drinking blood.

"1864, and yes, turned is the word we use ourselves," Damon replied.

"He and Stefan are the original Salvatore brothers," Elena revealed. "They just weren't killed in the battle of Willow Creek like the history of Mystic Falls claims."

"Instead they became vampires," Jenna completed the sentence. "But … how? I mean, there has to be a vampire involved, right? It's not something that just happens."

Damon nodded. "Yes." They had decided to skip over how the actual process of becoming a vampire worked, unless Jenna specifically asked about it. And they had also decided not to mention who had turned Damon and Stefan; no need to get into _that_ conversation. "It was a vampire passing through town. Back then, the war made it easy for them to feed whenever they wanted to, people died all the time anyway, so most of them roamed the country, looking for battles."

"Damon was actually in the Confederate Army," Elena said, trying to distract Jenna from asking about the workings of vampire transformation. "You really should ask him to tell you about it someday, it's what helped me pass my history exams back in high school."

"Hey, I'd like to think that _I_ had something to do with that," Alaric complained. "I _was_ your teacher after all, shouldn't I get some credit too?"

"Sorry, Rick," Elena apologized. "History was never really my thing, it was always just dates and names to me, but hearing about it from someone who had experienced it made it much more real."

"So, while you've been … alive," Jenna hesitated before the last word, "humanity has gone from gaslight to electric light, from horse drawn carriages to cars, from … I don't know, homemade bread to ready-to-bake cookie dough?"

"Isn't progress something?" Damon replied with a smirk. "I remember the debate when television was introduced: people were convinced that it was no more than a silly fad that would be gone within the year." He looked past Jenna out the window, eyes getting lost in the distance somewhere. "Yes, the world has changed quite a bit during my time in it."

For a moment, Elena thought that she could catch something in his voice or way of speaking that reminded her of the fact that he had actually been brought up during the nineteenth century. It didn't happen often, but sometimes a word or phrase that she didn't recognize and assumed was from his human years would sneak into his speech. "Taking a walk down memory lane?" she teased him, pulling him out of his musings, whatever they had been.

"Well, it _is_ a long walk," he shot back with a wink.

"So how long have vampires been around?" Jenna asked, drawing their attention back to the conversation. "I mean, _you're_ a hundred and seventy, and the vampire that turned you must have been older …"

"Yeah." Damon nodded. "The oldest vampire I've ever met was born in the thirteenth century, making him almost eight hundred years old now, if he's still around. But there have been vampire stories for thousands of years, among people in all parts of the world. Romania had the _strigoi_, Madagascar the _ramanga_, Chile the _peuchen_, Bali the _leyak_. Of course, far from all of those stories are true. Like I said, Dracula wasn't an actual vampire, and that's not the only time humans have tried to pass off an unusually cruel person as something else, something evil, since they didn't want to think that humans could be so malicious. But Elizabeth Báthory, a woman who lived in Hungary in the sixteenth century and was rumored to bathe in the blood of her victims, was a vampire. I think she was killed by another vampire in the eighteenth century, our kind have a tendency to get rid of those who threaten to expose all of us. Rasputin, a mystic who was close with the Russian Tsar Nicolas the Second, was also a vampire. He's still around as far as I know, but he's actually younger than I am. And some of the most gruesome serial killers through history have been vampires; Gilles de Rais, who murdered dozens of children and was burned to death, which is just as effective on vampires as on humans, and Fritz Haarman, the Vampire of Hanover, who was executed by decapitation, another way to kill a vampire. I met a vampire once who claimed that he had been at the crucifixion, but I think he was just trying to show off. Though there were probably vampires around back then too. There are those who claim that Lazarus and Jesus must have been vampires, since they were both supposed to have come back from the dead, but I don't know … that's probably just a myth."

As he spoke, Jenna's eyes widened more and more. When he finished, she was silent for a moment. "It's just so much to take in," she finally said. "I mean, to find out that the world you thought you knew is really completely different … and you, on top of all that." She gestured to Damon.

Elena hesitated for a moment. "There's actually more, Aunt Jenna," she then said. They were here to get everything out in the open, after all. And she didn't think Jenna would be happy if they waited and told her about Jeremy in a few days, when she'd had some time to get used to the idea of vampires.

"There's _more_?" Jenna shook her head. "OK, just lay it on me. How much worse can it get, right?"

"It's not something _bad_," Elena assured her. "I mean, I hope you won't think it is."

"Just tell me."

"Do you remember Anna?" Elena asked, having decided to ease into the subject a little, not just blurt out 'Jeremy's a vampire' right away. Jenna might only be in her early thirties, but Elena didn't want to risk her aunt having a heart attack.

"Jeremy's girlfriend?" Jenna smiled sadly. "Of course I remember her."

Elena took a deep breath. "She's a vampire."

Jenna looked like they had told her that pigs could fly. "Her too?" she asked after a moment, incredulously. "How did she end up here in Mystic Falls too, is it some sort of centre for vampires?"

Damon couldn't help but laugh at that. "No, it's not," he assured Jenna. They had talked about what to say to explain Anna's appearance in Mystic Falls; it was probably not a good idea to tell Jenna that Anna had come to town to try to free her mother who had been sealed in a tomb with twenty other vampires for a hundred and fifty years and, in the process of doing that, had kidnapped both Elena and Jeremy. "She's one of very few vampires who has a ring like mine and tries to live in human society," Damon continued. "I don't know how, but somehow she found out that Stefan and I lived here, and I guess she wanted the company of others like herself. It can get lonely after a few decades, being on your own."

"OK." Jenna nodded, accepting their explanation. "But … if she was a vampire, how could she disappear like that?" Her eyes widened as she thought of something. "They weren't killed by other vampires, were they?"

"No, no," Elena hurried to assure her. "Actually, they didn't die at all."

Jenna frowned. "What do you mean 'they didn't die'? They've been gone for two and a half years, of course they're dead."

Elena shook her head slowly. "The abandoned car, the clerk at the gas station having seen them go into the mountains at night, all that was to make you believe that they had gotten lost out there and died," she said carefully. "Jeremy wanted to give you some sort of closure, he didn't want you to think that he had just vanished from the face of the earth."

"But … if they're not dead, where are they? And why did they have to leave like that in the first place?"

Elena glanced at Damon for some sort of support, and he gave her an encouraging smile. They had decided that it would be best if Elena was the one to tell Jenna the truth about Jeremy, even if Damon had offered to do it, knowing that it would be difficult for Elena.

Taking another deep breath, Elena braced herself for Jenna's reaction. "Jeremy wanted Anna to turn him into a vampire," she revealed. "The reason they left like that is that she did."

Jenna stared at her for a moment. Then she looked at Alaric, for confirmation or denial, Elena didn't know. When he nodded, she just sat there for a moment, silent, probably trying to digest the new information.

"So, what you're saying is that she … turned him?" she then said. "He's a … a vampire now?"

Elena nodded and slowly, not knowing how Jenna might react, reached out to take her aunt's hand. Jenna let her, her eyes searching Elena's for any sign that she wasn't serious or that it was a joke.

"But he's not dead," Elena said when the silence became too much for her. "That's good, right?"

It didn't seem like Jenna had heard her. "So all of you have been lying to me for two and a half years?" she asked in a disbelieving voice. "Letting me think that he's dead when he's really not?"

"We didn't want you to have to deal with all of this," Alaric tried to explain. "It's a lot to take in, and we were just trying to protect you."

"Protect me?" Jenna repeated incredulously. "_Protect_ _me_? By letting me think I let my nephew get killed?" As she spoke, her voice got louder and louder.

"We thought about telling you, so many times," Elena said. "But it was really Jeremy's choice, in the end, and …"

"So you let an eighteen-year-old make a decision like that?" Jenna questioned, still focused on Alaric. "He was just a kid, you should have known better!"

"I'm sorry," Alaric apologized sincerely. "I know it might be hard to believe, but I was just trying to protect you."

Jenna just shook her head, getting up from the couch. "I thought I _knew_ you," she said in a disappointed voice. "You saw what I was going through after Jeremy disappeared, you _all_ did, and you still let me think that he was dead. I can't believe it!"

"Aunt Jenna, I'm _so_ sorry," Elena pleaded. "And I know that it'll take you some time to forgive us, but Jeremy is alive. Isn't that the important thing?"

Jenna just stared at her for a moment. "I … I have to be alone for a while," she then said. "I have to think, I have to … wrap my head around all this."

And she left the living room, Maddy still in her arms. After a moment, they heard her climb the stairs, and then the door to the bedroom open and close.

"That could have gone better," Alaric noted with a sigh.

"It could have gone _worse_," Damon countered incredulously. "I mean, what were you expecting, that she'd be all 'oh, you've been lying to me for years, but that's OK'? Wake up and smell the pissed off missus."

The teacher shrugged. "Maybe you're right."

Elena was still looking after her aunt and cousin. "Should someone maybe try to talk to her?" she suggested, but Alaric immediately shook his head.

"Let's just give her some time," he said. "It would only have the opposite effect if we tried to get her to come around. She needs to calm down a little."

Reluctantly, Elena leaned back on the couch and let out a sigh. "Do you think there's any point in us hanging around?" she wondered. "I mean, it could be days before she's willing to talk to us again."

"I don't think it'll take that long," Alaric replied. "Yes, she'll be mad at us for a while – a _long_ while, most likely – but, like you pointed out, this means that Jeremy isn't really dead. She'll be too curious to be able to keep from asking about him."

"Then we'll hang around for a while," Elena decided.

It turned out that Rick was right. It took a little over an hour, but then they heard the bedroom door open upstairs and Jenna's steps on the stairs. She still looked more than a little mad when she reentered the living room, but at least she was there.

"Don't think I've forgiven you," she said as soon as she was inside the room. "That's not gonna happen for a while, but …"

"You want to know more about Jeremy?" Elena finished her sentence, and Jenna nodded. "Why don't you sit down?"

A little hesitantly, Jenna reclaimed her earlier spot next to Elena, possibly weighing her options: did she want to sit next to the vampire, her husband who had been lying to her for as long as she had known him, or her niece, who had also been lying? Apparently, Elena drew the longest straw in that scenario.

"What do you want to know?" Elena asked when Jenna was more or less comfortable.

Her aunt hesitated for a moment. "Have you seen Jeremy … after I mean?" she then asked.

"I have," Elena replied, smiling. "He and Anna live in New York right now, he's going to NYU to get a degree in journalism. That's why we've been going up there so many times since last summer."

"New York isn't that far from here," Jenna noted.

"It's not," Elena agreed.

"Is he …" Jenna cut herself off, glancing at Damon as if she was afraid she'd offend him in some way. But then she seemed to decide to say what was on her mind anyway. "Is he really different?"

"No," Elena immediately replied. "He's just the same person he's always been. Maybe a little more mature, grown up, but he's still _him_, OK? He still loves video games and pizza and sleeps until noon on weekends, and he's still my little brother and your nephew. Nothing can ever change that."

"And is he … does he … eat the way Damon does?"

Elena had never actually asked Jeremy about that, but she knew that he didn't feed from humans – he was very proud of his 'clean record' when it came to that – so she had assumed that he and Anna got by robbing blood banks every now and then, just like Damon. "Yeah, he does, both he and Anna," she told her aunt, who looked relieved. "And I know that he really wants to see you again. He hasn't said anything, but I know him so well that I've been able to tell that staying away from you has been really hard on him these past couple of years. He really misses you, and he's dying to meet Maddy."

As if she had forgotten about having her daughter in her lap, Jenna looked down at the little girl, who was on the verge of falling asleep.

"Maybe I should put her to bed?" Alaric suggested, getting up from where he had been sitting.

"No, I'll do it," Jenna replied quickly, standing up again and glancing at Damon, and Elena realized that she wasn't comfortable being in a room with him without Alaric around. She tried not to be upset by that – they had talked about the fact that it was to be expected that Jenna was suddenly uncomfortable around Damon – but couldn't help but feel a little sad anyway.

Alaric waited until they heard Jenna open the door to Maddy's bedroom before he spoke. "I think she'll be OK with all of this," he said quietly, looking at Damon. "I mean, it's only to be expected that she'll be a little apprehensive around you for a while. Not taking her initial reaction into account, I think she's doing pretty well."

Damon nodded in agreement. "I was honestly expecting her to throw me out at one point," he admitted. "But she seems to have realized that I'm not planning on killing all of you."

"Actually, the jury's still out on that one," Jenna's voice came from the hallway and, a moment later, she appeared in the room. The apprehensive smile on her face told the others that she was kidding. Or at least partly. "But you _have_ been in the house when we've been asleep countless times, and I don't remember waking up in the middle of the night to find you standing over me, blood dripping. If you were planning on killing us, you've had more opportunities than I can count, and since I'm still alive, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt."

She sat down on the couch again, giving Damon a tentative smile which he returned. "Thank you," he said. "And I promise I won't make you regret it. I would never do anything to hurt you or the people that you care about, I hope you will be able to believe that one day."

Jenna nodded before turning to Elena. "Do you think that Jeremy would talk to me if I called him?" she asked. "I mean, I want to see him as soon as possible, of course, but that's not gonna happen tonight and I would like to at least talk to him, convince my skeptical brain that this is actually real. If I don't, I'll probably wake up tomorrow convinced that all of this was a dream and you'll have to tell me all over again."

"He would love to talk to you," Elena told her. "I actually talked to him before we came here, and he's expecting you to call."

Jenna let out a relieved breath. "Good."

Rummaging around in her purse, Elena found a small note pad and wrote down Jeremy's phone number. "This is the number to his cell," she said, giving Jenna the piece of paper. "Just … don't be too hard on him, OK? He was worried that you'd be really mad at him for not telling you about all of this back when … before he left."

"Well, I'm not going to lie, I am mad," Jenna replied. "I'm really, really mad, actually, and, like I said, I don't think I'll be able to forgive you for lying to me for a long time …" she shot Alaric a reproachful look, "… but I'm going to focus on the fact that I can see my nephew again. But I'll probably yell at him, at least a little bit."

"Sorry," Alaric apologized again. "We only did what we thought was best at the time."

Jenna shook her head. "Yeah, well, next time, just tell me the truth. I can handle it."

"Maybe we should get out of your hair?" Elena suggested, ignoring the pointed looks that both Damon and Alaric gave her at her words. "You want to talk to Jeremy, and it's getting late. I have finals tomorrow, so we really should be getting back."

"Can I just ask a couple more questions?" Jenna wondered before Elena could get up from the couch.

"Sure. But Alaric knows as much as I do, if not more," Elena told her.

Again, Jenna glared a little at Alaric. "I know. I was just wondering about Jeremy, if he has one of those rings too? You said that Anna did, but I'm guessing she's had hers for a while."

"Oh. Yeah, he does," Elena said. "B … Bree, a witch that Damon knows, made one for him." She could feel Damon's questioning eyes on her, but didn't look at him.

"OK, that's good." Jenna nodded. "I was thinking that maybe he and Anna could come down here sometime this week? I mean, if travelling at day isn't a problem."

"Actually, Aunt Jenna, Jeremy has finals too," Elena said apologetically. "But they're coming to my graduation, you'll see them then."

"Oh." Jenna looked disappointed. "I guess if I've waited two and a half years to see him, I can wait a couple more weeks."

She sounded so disappointed that Elena couldn't help but say, "Why don't you talk to him about it? I don't know how his exams are organized, but he might have some free time."

Jenna brightened at that. "I think I'll go call him right away."

Elena smiled as she got up from the couch. "You do that, and we'll see you soon, OK?"

"OK." Jenna got up as well, pulling Elena into a slightly hesitant hug. "Good luck with your finals, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. And …" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "… I don't have to worry about you, being alone with Damon, right?"

"Of course not," Elena whispered back. "And he can actually hear you."

"Oops." Jenna pulled back, blushing a little. "Sorry about that."

"No problem, I know that this will all take some time to get used to," Damon disregarded her apology. "You can't offend me no matter how hard you try, so you don't have to worry about saying or doing something wrong."

"OK, then I won't. And …" she hesitated for a moment, "… I trust you … I think."

Damon nodded solemnly. "I know that everything we've told you tonight will take some time to process, so thank you for that. It means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it."

"I guess we're going then?" Damon assumed, turning to Elena and giving her a questioning look. She knew what he was trying to ask her and nodded. She had decided to put off telling Jenna about her own plans for the future. "You go call your no-longer-dead-or-missing nephew."

Jenna laughed a little shakily at that and Elena shot Damon a look, but he just shrugged innocently.

"Bye, Aunt Jenna," Elena said, giving her aunt another hug goodbye. "If there's anything you want to ask, just give me a call, OK? Any time … except during the day starting tomorrow, since I have finals and won't be allowed to have my phone with me."

"I think I'm good," Jenna replied, hugging Elena back tightly for a moment before letting her go. "Like you said, Rick knows a lot about this too, so I think I'll be fine."

"Say hi to Jeremy for me, will you?"

Jenna laughed again, sounding more normal this time. "It's gonna take a while to get used to being able to talk _to_ him and _about_ him like that again," she said, shaking her head disbelievingly.

"I know." Elena squeezed her hand. "Go call him! We'll see ourselves out."

"OK, I think I will."

* * *

**AN: OK, that's it. Let me have it (ducking to avoid any flying objects anyone might be throwing at me). Should Jenna have been angrier? She ****is**** still pissed at all of them, but she also wants to talk to her nephew, so she was able to put her anger aside for a little while and focus on that. If I was writing from her or Alaric's perspective, there probably would have been a full-blown fight after she talked to Jeremy – Rick's the one she'll be the angriest with, I think, since he's been lying to her pretty much from day one, and he is the grown-up in the situation – but I'm not, so you'll have to play that out the way you think it would go yourself. There will probably be some hints in the upcoming chapters that Jenna's not a happy camper right now, but I'm not planning on having her all pissed off all the time ****– that wouldn't make for a very fun story****. I hope her reaction was at least believable, and if anyone didn't really like it, I apologize. I did the best I could, and I tried to make her angry but not ****too**** angry, you know. And did she accept Damon too soon? I don't think so, but maybe some of you do. But, like **_**Alexandra**_** said in her review of the last chapter, Damon has proved, in the past five years, that he isn't a threat to anyone, and that should count for something, even in a situation like this. OK, I'm done justifying myself now: this is probably the chapter I've been the most nervous about posting, at least so far. Let me know what you think … **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: OK, The Big Talk is out of the way, but there is still A Talk to be had … let's see if Damon will be able to gather up enough courage to actually bring the subject up! Thank you for all the positive feedback on the last chapter, I'm glad you thought Jenna's reaction was believable and suitable for the situation. I was nervous about posting the chapter, like I said, since I think most people would have a very fixed idea about how Jenna might take the news about vampires, especially now that the subject has kind of been brought up on the show. Again, thank you! And some extra credit to **_**SweetWillowTree**_** who picked up on my Spike reference! OK, just want to give lots of hugs to my beta, sunshine2006578, and then we'll get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

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**Chapter nine**

"That went pretty well in the end," Elena noted when she and Damon had left the house and were walking down the path to the street where Damon's car was parked.

"Yeah," he agreed, unlocking the car. "What was with the Bree thing, why'd you bring her into this?"

"Sorry." She shot him an apologetic look. "I started to say Bonnie, and then I realized that it really isn't my place to tell Aunt Jenna that she's a witch, and Bree is the only other witch I've ever met. And her name starts with a B too, so it worked out good since I had to come up with something else mid-sentence."

He just shook his head, an amused look on his face, and held the car door open for her.

"So …" he started when he had pulled into the street. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

She sighed. "I know, I should have told her. But I just couldn't lay even more on her plate, so I thought we could wait to tell her until …"

"After?" he completed the sentence, and she laughed.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You know that I thought we should wait to tell her to begin with, so I won't argue with you," he continued. "But don't you think she'll realize that there was a reason we told her all of this _now _on her own?"

Elena frowned. "She might. But I'm hoping she'll be too wrapped up in the whole 'vampires are real' and 'Jeremy isn't dead' to have time to think about that. And if she _does_ think about it, I'm hoping that she'll spend some time in denial before actually asking me about it."

Damon laughed. "You do know that there are a lot of _ifs_ in that scenario, right? Maybe _you're_ the one in denial."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, maybe. If it does come up, I'll deal with it, and if not … we'll just tell her when it's already a done deal."

"Well, as long as you know that there is a possibility that she'll confront you about it." He was silent for a moment, hesitating. "But that wasn't actually what I was referring to."

She gave him a puzzled look. "Then what?"

He glanced at her, wondering if she was just pretending not to know what he was talking about to get him to say it out loud. But the expression on her face really was confused.

Should he just let it go? But no, he had already come to the conclusion that he couldn't let her go through with this without really thinking about everything it would entail, all the consequences. Might as well bite the proverbial bullet right away and get it over with.

"The kids thing," he said quickly, not sure how else to bring it up. "It doesn't bother you?"

She stared at him, an incredulous look on her face, for another moment, then she started laughing. That definitely wasn't the reaction he had been expecting, and he didn't know how to respond.

"I've actually been wondering if you were going to bring that up," she told him after a moment, when she had pulled herself together again. "I heard some of the conversation you had with that guy at the park the other week, and I figured you would be thinking about it. I have to say that I was starting to think that you weren't going to mention it."

"Trust me, I thought about it," he replied, still a little rattled by her laughter. "But then I realized that living with you would probably be a bitch once you realized that I knowingly didn't bring it up while you could still do something about it, so …"

"And what exactly do you think I should _do_ about it?" she questioned, eyebrows pulling together.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But don't you want kids?"

She shrugged. "Not really."

"But I've seen you with Maddy," he insisted, sure she was just downplaying it. "I know how much you love her, don't you want that yourself?"

"But I _have_ that," she told him. "With Maddy. She might not be _my_ child, but what I have with her, and any future kids Jenna and Alaric might have, and Bonnie and Caroline, that's enough for me. I'll get to be the fun aunt, spoil them rotten and then give them back at the end of the day when the sugar rush, which will be the result of all the candy I'll be giving them, sets in. The perfect scenario."

He shook his head, eyes focused on the road. "You say that now, but five, ten, twenty years down the line you might change your mind. And then it'll be too late."

"I'm absolutely positive that I won't change my mind," she persisted.

"If this is something that you want, then you shouldn't be afraid to say so just because you don't want to hurt my feelings or something. I'm a big boy, I can handle it." He had to convince her that he would be OK with whatever she wanted to do. "If you want a kid, then I want you to have one. Even if that means postponing your transformation … or not going through with it at all."

"OK, let me get this straight," she said. "What you're saying is, basically, that I should wait a couple of years, have a baby – and how were you thinking I would do that exactly, pick up a stranger at a bar and hope that first time's the charm or something? – and _then_ decide if I want you to turn me or not?"

He nodded, though the idea of her in bed with some other guy had him squeezing the wheel harder than what was good for it. "If that's what you want."

"It seems like you've decided what I want already."

Wanting to be able to look at her when he talked to her – the expression on her face always told him as much as, if not more than, what she actually said – he pulled off the road onto a narrow side road that headed straight into the woods. He followed the road for a moment: it wasn't much more than a path, really, and the overgrown state of it made it look like it wasn't used much. After a turn they could no longer see the main road and, at a spot where the road broadened a little, he stopped the car and turned the engine off.

"If this is something that you want to do, I don't want to be the one to take it away from you," he said, turning in his seat to look at her.

"You're not," she told him, shaking her head. "Honestly."

"And you're not just saying that?"

"No. Listen …" She paused, running a hand through her hair as she searched for the words that would make him believe her. "I admit that there have been times, when I was younger, when I thought about having kids one day. But I've never been one of those girls whose only goal in life is to be a wife and mother. Had things been different, had I never met you, I probably would have had kids one day. But this is _my_ life, the life _I_ have chosen. Don't you think _I've_ thought about this before? I know that vampires can't have kids, you told me that a long time ago. And I'm truly, honestly OK with that. And how can you just say that you'd be fine with me sleeping with someone else just to get pregnant?"

"Oh, I'm not OK with that, trust me," he replied. "But … I want you to do what _you_ want, and if that's what it takes …"

"Even if I did want kids, there are other ways of doing it," she pointed out. "I was just saying that to see how far you would take it, which is apparently as far as it'll go."

"So you weren't serious about that part?"

She shook her head, giving him an incredulous look. "No, of course not!"

He nodded, a little relieved. "I guess you're right, there are other ways to do that, I hadn't thought about it. So maybe …"

"Don't even suggest that I go to a sperm bank or something," she interrupted him. "Because if I can't have kids with _you_, then I don't want any. OK?"

He considered her words for a moment, almost unable to believe that he had heard her correctly. He had expected her to start doubting her decision, which was, of course, the reason he had hesitated for so long before broaching the subject in the first place. But she had thought about it before he even brought it up.

"So I really didn't have to worry about it?" he asked, and she shook her head. "Damn! And here I've been having this internal debate with myself for _weeks_, trying to justify not talking to you about it."

She laughed a little, but then leaned over to give him a quick kiss. "Thank you," she said when she pulled away. "For bringing it up. You obviously couldn't have known that I made my decision a long time ago, and it must have been hard for you to risk me changing my mind like that."

He reached out a hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, letting his fingers continue down her neck. "I couldn't let you go through with this without having taken everything into consideration," he told her. "I might be selfish, but not when it comes to you. Your happiness is more important to me than my own."

She smiled and leaned into his touch. "I know." He had proved that to her so many times, in so many ways, over the past four and a half years that there was no doubt in her mind that he put her before even his own wants and needs.

"I have to say that I'm a little relieved, though," he admitted. "I mean, if you had told me that you needed some more time, I would have given it to you, but … I honestly don't think that I could ever live without you."

She leaned in for another kiss, this one a little longer. This time when they pulled apart, she leaned her forehead against his and sighed. "Ditto. I love you."

"Ditto," he returned her words, and she laughed.

"There's nothing more romantic than saying 'I love you' to someone and getting 'ditto' back," she noted, leaning back into her own seat.

"You want romantic?" In a flash, he pulled her body against his again, his lips demanding against hers. "I'll show you romantic …"

With one hand, he found the lever that moved the driver's seat and pushed it all the way back, to get away from the steering wheel, then he lifted her onto his lap. She tore her lips from his.

"Seriously?" she asked a little breathlessly, but not reluctantly, he noted. "Here?"

"Why not? Are you afraid of getting caught?" he teased, knowing that she wouldn't be able to resist the challenge.

Sure enough, she kissed him again, pressing her body against his. "Never."

He laughed a little at that, remembering how hesitant she had been the first time they'd made love outside the comfort and privacy of an actual house – and they had been in a much more secluded spot then than they were now. In the past four years, she had come a long way when it came to their sex life. On the other hand, she had also gotten him to appreciate a good old traditional missionary in their bed more than he used to. Sex with Elena was always amazing, no matter where, no matter how, and it didn't always have to be an adventure. Every now and then, however, they both liked to spice things up a little, and it looked like this would be one of those times.

She was already tugging at the buttons in his shirt, suddenly urgent, and he helped her get the last ones undone. With a content sigh, she trailed her fingers down his chest and abdomen and then back up. In return, he slid his hands underneath her top and caressed her stomach before venturing further north. Cupping her breast with one hand, he unhooked her bra with the other. Again, she pulled away from his kiss.

"And how were you planning on getting that the rest of the way off?" she wondered in an amused voice.

"Don't need it off," he replied, brushing over one nipple with his thumb.

"Mmmm," she moaned, her eyes sliding shut and her breathing picking up a little. "I see your point."

He flicked the already hard nub between his fingers once, and she arched her back against his touch, in the process straightening up and hitting her head on the ceiling.

"Ow." She looked so perplexed that Damon couldn't help but laugh, despite the sexual tension in the car.

"Sorry," he apologized after a moment, trying to pull her down for another kiss, but she resisted.

"It wasn't funny," she complained, pouting and rubbing the spot on her head.

"Sorry," he repeated, squeezing her breast. "Let me make it up to you."

She pretended to consider that for a moment. "OK," she then said with a smile, leaning down and letting him kiss her.

To avoid any further head injuries, he fumbled around for another lever for a moment, finally finding it and tilting the seat as far back as it would go, which put him pretty much flat on his back.

"There, much better," he mumbled, abandoning her lips to trail kisses down her neck. When he got to the neckband of her top, he frowned. "On the other hand, I think I _do_ want this all the way off."

A little apprehensively, Elena glanced out the car windows. She was apparently convinced that nobody was going to come bursting in on them, because she straightened up, a little more carefully this time, and pulled her top over her head. With that piece of clothing out of the way, Damon reached out to slide the straps of the bra off her shoulders and down her arms before tossing it aside.

"That's more like it." As if there had been no interruption, he pushed himself up on one elbow so that he could continue on his way down her shoulders, placing openmouthed kisses on every inch of her skin. After a moment, she pushed him back down and leaned over him to give him better access, one hand sliding down to tug at his belt.

"God, the things you do to me," she said, voice a little hoarse, when she finally got the belt unbuckled.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he noted, abandoning her skin for a second before letting his tongue dart out to circle her nipple. Elena gasped and pushed her hips against his, looking for more physical contact. Pleased with her reaction, he pulled her nipple into his mouth, letting his teeth graze the sensitive skin.

"No, no," she mumbled. "Very, _very_ good."

She had abandoned her attempts at getting his pants undone so, also feeling the need to be closer to her, _inside_ her, Damon took over and undid the button and zipper himself. Abandoning her breast, he kissed his way back up to her lips. She kissed him back in earnest and, a moment later, he felt her hand close around him and it was his turn to gasp for breath.

She started moving her hand, slowly, and he let his hands slide along her bare thighs, up under the skirt she was wearing.

Pulling away from her, he drew in a couple of ragged breaths as she squeezed him a little tighter.

"Remind me to get rid of all your jeans when we get home," he then said, voice husky, and slid one hand around to the inside of her thigh. "Skirts make everything more … accessible." At the last word, he pushed her panties aside and slipped one finger inside her, finding her already wet and ready for him. Her eyes slid shut and, for a moment, her hand stopped moving around him.

"God …" she breathed.

"Nope, just me, baby." He captured her lips again and started moving his finger in and out of her, while pushing his hips a little against her hand. Understanding what he wanted, she picked up her earlier ministrations, moving faster now, the need to finally be joined together as strong for her as it was for him.

After a couple of minutes, she pushed herself off him a little, and he hurried to get his jeans out of the way. She pulled away from him, breathing heavily and, eyes never leaving his, let him guide himself into her.

When he was completely enveloped in her heat, Damon slid his hands back up Elena's thighs to her hips, keeping her still. He always thought that this moment, the few seconds after their bodies came together like this, was the best part of their lovemaking, maybe because part of him still, sometimes, had a hard time believing that she was actually there with him.

But that feeling only lasted for a brief moment, then the need to find that sweet release made itself known and he pulled her down to be able to kiss her and pushed his hips against hers. She immediately started moving, much too slow in his opinion. But, no matter how difficult it may be and no matter how much he wanted to urge her on, he always let her set the pace when she was on top. And, in here, he didn't really have much choice.

But he did have a _few_ tricks up his sleeve. When he thought that he had let her have her way for long enough, he trailed one hand up her side, finding her breast and twirling her nipple between his fingers, and the other down her hip and over her thigh, finding her most sensitive spot. She moaned into his mouth and, as he had hoped, started moving faster, chasing that moment when everything else fell away and there was just them.

But it still wasn't enough. He could feel it approaching, knew it was only a matter of seconds, if that, and still he wanted, _needed_, more. He tore his lips from hers and bit down on his own wrist; exchanging blood like that was something they had tried a couple of years ago and stuck with, since it was even better than him biting her during sex and then giving her his blood after. Now, when he held his wrist up to her mouth, she didn't hesitate for a second, but immediately sucked at the wound, making him groan out loud. A moment later, he sank his teeth into the soft skin on her neck and, with simultaneous cries of pleasure, they tumbled over the edge into oblivion together.

Wave after wave of satisfaction washed over Damon, and he clutched her closer to him, never wanting to let her go. It took them several minutes to come back to reality and, when they did, Elena let out a shaky breath.

"Well, that was an interesting … detour," she said, and Damon laughed.

"'Interesting' doesn't even _begin_ to cover it," he told her, giving her a languid kiss.

She returned the kiss for a moment, then reluctantly pulled away and glanced at her watch.

"As much as I would love an … encore, we should really be heading home." She looked around the car, searching for her bra and top.

"Looking for this?" he asked, picking up her bra from the floor behind the passenger seat and letting it dangle from his finger.

Elena snatched it away from him and put it back on before sliding back into her seat. "You don't see my top back there by any chance?" she asked, flipping the sun visor down to give herself a once over in the mirror.

"Relax, nobody will notice that you have sex hair," Damon assured her, pulling up his jeans and buttoning them. "And, nope, no top back here."

"Crap!" She rummaged around under her seat in case the missing piece of clothing had ended up there, but nothing. "I can't go all the way back to Durham in nothing but my bra!"

"It'll be dark soon," he tried to comfort her halfheartedly – he wouldn't mind her being half naked, even if it would be a bit of a distraction – but only got a look with raised eyebrows in return. Shrugging, he buttoned his shirt before raising his seat into its normal position, something blue catching his eyes as he did so. "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, holding up the top, which had, somehow, ended up by the pedals at his feet.

Letting out a relieved breath, Elena accepted the top and pulled it back on before straightening her hair a little. "OK, I'm good, let's go."

Laughing, Damon started the car and turned it around, heading back towards the main road. "At least you can't complain that life with me is boring," he noted. "Which is good, you know, since we'll hopefully be spending the next few hundred years or so together."

She laughed and scooted over in her seat so that she could lean her head against his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her.

"'Boring' is the absolute last word I would _ever_ think of in reference to you."

He laughed too as he pulled back into the evening traffic and they continued on their way back to Durham.

* * *

Damon waited until Elena was asleep that night, then he slipped out of bed and took his cell phone with him into the office. It was a little after midnight, which meant nine P.M. on the west coast. Even Stefan wouldn't have gone to bed _that_ early.

His brother picked up after a couple of rings. _"Hello?"_

"Baby brother," Damon greeted him. "How are things?"

Stefan was silent for a moment. _"Pretty much the same way they were two days ago, the last time we talked. Did you want something or should I get used to these frequent phone calls?"_

Right, he had forgotten that he had called his brother just a couple of days ago. Usually, they talked once a week or so, so two calls in three days was out of the ordinary. But he did actually have a reason to call now.

"Yeah, there is something I want to talk to you about," he said.

"_OK, shoot."_

"Elena said that you're coming down for her graduation," Damon started.

"_Right …"_ Stefan sounded a little confused, and Damon couldn't blame him.

"Do you think you could stick around for a little while after, maybe a couple of weeks? Or do you need to get back Baghdad by the Bay?" He frowned. "I never got that nickname, by the way."

"_I think it was this reporter, Herb Caen, who started using it back in the forties, and it stuck for some reason,"_ Stefan, the eternal know-it-all, replied. _"And no, I don't have to get back right away. Why?"_

"Well, you said that you wanted to be here when …" Damon trailed off, knowing that Stefan would be able to figure out what he was talking about.

The line was silent for a long moment. _"Oh,"_ Stefan then said, not sounding overly surprised. _"She's sure about this?"_

Automatically and out of a habit over a hundred years in the making, Damon got defensive. "Why, are you going to try to talk her out of it?"

"_No,"_ Stefan immediately replied, sounding almost amused by his brother instantly jumping to that conclusion. "_I just want to make sure that she's really thought about this, because, as you know, there's no refund, no going back."_

Relaxing as soon as he had tensed up, Damon realized that he had been too hasty. "Sorry, knee-jerk reaction. And I've talked to her about it, about being absolutely positive before we go through with it, but feel free to put your two cents in when you get here. The last thing I want is for her to do this because it's what _I_ want. She has to be absolutely certain that she won't change her mind."

Stefan laughed once. _"You know, sometimes it amazes me how much you've changed in the past five years. If someone had told me back then that we'd one day be having a conversation like this, I probably would have laughed in their faces."_

Damon chuckled. "You and me both, bro."

"_I'll stay as long as you want me to, as long as Elena wants me there,"_ Stefan promised. _"Have you told her about our … agreement?"_

"No." Damon frowned. "But I don't think she'll have a problem with it. I mean, the more help you can get after the transformation, the better, right? Even if she's prepared and all that, it'll still be a big adjustment. I don't know if Jeremy and Anna'll stay too, we'll see."

"_Stay? As in they're coming to her graduation?"_ Stefan sounded skeptical. _"And how were you planning on explaining the sudden appearance of her dead nephew to Jenna?"_

"Right, that was the other reason I called." Damon smiled to himself, knowing that Stefan would probably freak out a little at the idea of Jenna knowing about him being a vampire. "We told Jenna about vampires today. Elena wants Jeremy at her graduation and, like you just pointed out, him just turning up would probably be a _little_ hard to explain to Jenna."

Again, the line went silent, this time for over a minute. _"So she knows about us?" _Stefan finally asked. _"About you and me?"_

"Yep."

"_And how did she react?"_

"After an initial freak-out where she tried to throw me out of the house and an hour-long stay in her room, surprisingly well," Damon said. "It'll take her a while to completely digest the information, of course, and she'll probably be pissed for a while, though hopefully Rick'll take most of the heat. And I doubt she'll be very happy when she finds out that Elena's a vampire too, but I think that everything will be OK in the long run. She had calmed down enough to tell me that she trusted me before we left, so I'm calling it a success."

"_OK, that's good. I have to say that I'm glad I wasn't there when you told her though."_

"Do me a favor would you? Don't mention the whole animal diet to her when you're here." Damon grimaced. "I don't want her to join your 'Eat Bambi' campaign."

Stefan laughed. _"I promise I won't try to recruit her. I know you're a lost cause, anyway."

* * *

_

**AN: I know that some of you think that Stefan really isn't as OK with Damon and Elena as he is letting on and that he'll try to talk Elena out of going through with the change, and the 'normal' Stefan from the show, probably even the Stefan from my story a couple of years ago, would, but I actually have a plan and a reason why he has finally moved on … I'm not going to tell you what, but you'll find out in a couple of chapters, I think. OK, let me know what you thought about the chapter – I decided to throw some smut in there after all the drama in the two last chapters, hope you liked it! **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: It seems like you guys are anxious to get to Elena's change, but we still have a way to go and some things to get through before we get there. So, **_**Nessa Lovegood**_**, you don't have to worry about us getting to the end of the story soon, because I don't think we're more than halfway through it yet (and, knowing how I get when I'm writing, it might even be more!). Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter, you guys are really what keep me going on this story! Lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578, and now, let's get on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

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**Chapter ten**

Elena couldn't help but call Jeremy when she was heading home after her finals on Monday. She was extremely curious to find out how his talk with Jenna had gone and the only reason she hadn't called until now was that she hadn't had the time. Also, it would be a good way to distract herself from going over all her answers, which she had a tendency to do after an exam. She had more finals to study for and couldn't get sidetracked worrying about what she might have messed up during the first day.

"_I'm surprised you could contain yourself this long,"_ Jeremy answered in an amused voice after a couple of rings. _"I was sure you'd call last night to find out how it went. Did Damon tie you down to keep you away from the phone or something? On second thought, don't answer that. I don't want to know, I don't need the mental images." _

"Ha ha. I wasn't sure how long you and Jenna would be talking last night, and then I had my first final this morning and I couldn't really get away until now," she replied, not even bothering to try to deny that she had been itching to talk to him: he wouldn't believe her if she did. "So?"

"_So … I don't know, it was pretty much what I had expected, I guess. She was a little emotional at first, going on about how much she had missed me, which was kinda nice to hear. Then she did the 'I'm very disappointed in you' speech."_

"Oh no." Elena grimaced. "Those are even worse than the 'I'm really mad at you' speeches."

He laughed briefly. _"I know, right? But I guess I sort of had it coming. Anyway, she said that she was disappointed that I hadn't felt like I could tell her everything back when I 'disappeared' and I tried to explain to her why I made that decision in the first place, that I didn't want her to have to deal with all of this. I don't think she really thought it was a good enough reason – there was some yelling at that point. But then she said that she was just happy to have me back and that she wanted to leave the past in the past and just enjoy the fact that she would be able to see me again. So it could have been a lot worse. I was expecting her to yell at me at least two times, maybe even more." _

That was true. "Did she bug you about coming down to Mystic Falls to see her and Maddy?" Elena wondered. "She mentioned it last night, and when I tried to tell her that you have finals too and that she would see you at my graduation, she looked so disappointed that I told her that she could talk to you about it."

"_She did, actually,"_ Jeremy confirmed. _"I told her that I have finals this week and that Anna can't really get that much time off from work right now but that, if she wants to, she can come up here next week. I'll be done with my finals by then and we're not going down to Durham until next Thursday."_

"Good, she really wants to see you."

"_I kinda got that impression too,"_ he replied. _"And I'm dying to see her, and Maddy, of course. But, I was thinking …"_

"Yeah?"

"_Maybe you and Damon could come along?"_ he suggested. _"As a sort of buffer, I don't know. I think things might be a little awkward if it's just us, you know."_

"I'm not sure that having _Damon_ around will help much with the awkwardness," Elena objected, and Jeremy laughed.

"_Yeah, Jenna told me about the little 'show and tell' last night,"_ he said. _"I can't believe Damon did that, no wonder Jenna freaked out the way she did, anyone would have. I'm actually surprised that she calmed down as quickly as she did after that."_

"I know, and so am I, to be honest." Elena shook her head, a little amused now that she had gotten over the initial shock. "But it _did_ get our point across. She was really refusing to believe anything I told her up until that point."

"_That's true,"_ Jeremy admitted. _"Anyway, I know I would feel a lot better if you would come too, and I think that Jenna would appreciate it if you were there, even if she wouldn't ask for it."_

Elena considered the idea for a moment. It would be nice to have something to occupy her mind after her finals were done. She knew that, if she just hung around the apartment, she would start obsessing over having gotten something wrong and, eventually, convince herself that she was going to fail everything, and she really wasn't in the mood for a full blown panic attack right now. A trip to New York might be just what she needed. "How about this? I'll talk to Jenna, see how she feels about us tagging along, and then I'll get back to you? If she's OK with it, we'd love to come."

"_Great, thank you!"_

She laughed. "No problem. And now I'm going to go. I'm sure you have something you need to go through for tomorrow, and I'm going to head home and try to _not_ think about the exams I did today." She had gotten to their apartment building by now and paused outside the entrance to finish the phone call. The weather was still very nice for May, and she wanted to enjoy the sun for a little while longer.

"_No obsessing!"_ Jeremy told her sternly. _"I know how you get after exams and there's no point in going over every answer again, you know that. What's done is done, just let it go and be happy that it's over."_

"I know, and I do try," she defended herself. "It's just … no, I'm not gonna go there."

"_Good, keep that up. I'll talk to you soon and, maybe, see you this weekend. If not, we'll be there next Thursday, in plenty of time for the graduation ceremony."_

"That sounds good. Bye, Jere."

"_Bye, sis."_

Elena hung up the phone and entered the building, quickly climbing the stairs while she rummaged around her bag for her keys. "I'm home!" she called out as she closed the door behind her. She knew that Damon would hear it the moment she put the key in the lock, maybe even when she came up the stairs, but it was a habit.

"One day down, five to go," he said, appearing in the doorway to the living room.

Elena groaned. "Don't say it like that, you make it sound like it's _ages_ away!" she complained.

"OK, so how about 'only five days left of your four year college education'?" he suggested instead.

"_That's_ more like it!" She laughed as she made to pass him into the living room, but he caught her by the waist and pulled her closer.

"I don't get a hello kiss?" he asked in a disappointed voice. "We haven't gotten into the old-married-couple rut already, have we?"

He didn't give her the chance to reply, but covered her lips with his in a kiss that was as far from old-married-couple-y as it could possibly get. Even if she had wanted to, Elena wouldn't have been able to resist – and she definitely didn't want to – so she just gave in, returning the kiss and wrapping her arms around his neck.

When he finally pulled away from her, they were both breathing hard. "That was some hello," she noted.

"Happy to be of service," he replied with a wink, and she laughed.

"And I don't think we're in _any_ danger of slipping into a rut," she continued.

"Nah, probably not," he agreed. "Now, if I ask you how the exam went, will you promise to not go into a question-by-question, so detailed I'll be sorry I asked in the first place, bore me out of my mind recap?"

She rolled her eyes at his choice of words and finally succeeded in making it to the couch where she slumped down in a half-lying position, putting her feet up on the table, and let out a long breath.

"I _think_ it went OK," she told him when he had sat down next to her. "I know that there were a couple of things that I missed on the first one, and at least one question that I got wrong on the second one, but overall it felt pretty good. I'm sure I passed both of them, anyway, and I'm going to try _very_ hard not to overanalyze it."

He gave her an incredulous look, eyebrows raised. "I'm sure _that'll_ go just super." There was no mistaking the sarcasm in his voice and she stuck her tongue out at him. But, of course, he was right. He knew her just as well as Jeremy, if not even better.

"Well, the good thing is that I have more finals to worry about, so I honestly don't think I'll start obsessing over the ones I've done until I'm finished with all of them," she thought out loud. "And I have a solution for that too."

"Do tell."

"I talked to Jeremy on the way home …"

"Why am I not surprised?" he interrupted her, rolling his eyes. "No, scratch that, I _am_ surprised – that you managed to wait _that_ long to call him. I honestly expected to wake up in the middle of the night to find that you had snuck out of bed to talk to him."

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him an annoyed look. "Can I continue, or are you going to keep interrupting me?" He pretended to lock his lips with an invisible key that he then threw over his shoulder. "So, anyway, Jenna's going up to New York to see him next week, after he's done with his finals, and he asked if we would mind going with her. He thinks things'll be awkward if it's just the two of them, and I'm kinda with him on that one. Plus, like I said, it'll help keep my mind off things until graduation."

Damon looked at her for a moment, a slightly skeptical expression on his face. "I don't know," he then said. "Are you sure having me around will make Jenna _less_ uncomfortable?"

"Not completely," Elena admitted. "But I'm going to talk to her about it first, make sure that she's OK with it."

He nodded. "Well, if she _is_ OK with it then, sure, we can go with her."

She reached out to squeeze his hand gratefully. "Thank you."

"No problem," he waved it off. "But there are other ways of keeping you from thinking about your exams, you know."

She could tell, from his tone of voice, where he was going, but pretended not to understand. "Really? Like what?" she asked innocently.

A smile, halfway between seductive and predatory, spread on his face as he traced the contours of her lips with one finger. "Oh, I'm _very_ good at distractions."

She had to swallow once to be able to answer; she knew very well just how good he was at distracting her. "So that's what that was before?"

He leaned in closer, pressing a kiss to the skin just below her ear. "Maybe," he mumbled, his breath tingling her skin. Then his tongue trailed along the edge of her earlobe, and she really had to focus to be able to think straight.

"I think you might have to … show me."

Sure enough, her finals didn't cross her mind even once during the rest of the day.

* * *

The following Sunday, Damon and Elena left Durham at seven in the morning, since the drive to New York via Mystic Falls would take over nine hours. Jenna had been thrilled when Elena had offered to go with her and Maddy to see Jeremy. She had also claimed that she didn't have a problem with Damon coming along on their trip and when Elena had pushed the subject a little she had said that it would be good practice, being around him for eight hours in a car. She didn't want to be nervous when she saw Jeremy, and surviving an eight hour drive with a vampire should convince her that they could control themselves. Elena was glad, since this showed that Jenna trusted Damon, at least to a certain extent. She hoped that after the five days they would spend together Jenna would have gotten over the last of her doubts.

Jeremy had offered to let them stay at his and Anna's place, but it wasn't really big enough to accommodate five adults and one child and, even though she hadn't admitted it, Elena didn't think that Jenna was all that comfortable having Maddy sleep in an apartment with three vampires. As for Elena, she wasn't all that keen on staying with her brother and his girlfriend either – she and Damon never did when they went to New York – since vampires had annoyingly good hearing … When it had been decided that they were going to stay at a hotel, Damon had insisted on picking up the tab for the trip and had made reservations for them at the Four Seasons.

"Is this some kind of attempted bribe?" Elena had asked when Damon had made their reservations; there was really no reason to stay at such an expensive hotel.

"Maybe I'm feeling a little nostalgic," he had replied, winking at her, and she had remembered their first trip to New York, almost five years ago. It hadn't occurred to her when he had suggested the Four Seasons, but they had stayed there back then too. How could she have forgotten that?

"Really?"

"I even got us the same room."

So the butterflies that were occupying Elena's stomach when they left Durham only partially had their origin in Jenna and Jeremy's impending meeting; part of her was very excited to be going back to New York, back to the very hotel room where everything – her _life_, really – had started years ago.

When they had left Durham behind and were on the highway, heading for Mystic Falls, Elena scooted over in her seat so that she could lean her head against Damon's shoulder.

"Tired?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her.

"A little," she replied. She had been so worked up after her last final the night before that she hadn't fallen asleep until closer to one thirty in the morning, and they had gotten up at six. "Thank you."

"For what? Dragging you out of bed at an ungodly hour?"

She ignored his sarcastic remark. "Just … everything. Putting up with me these past couple of weeks, with the studying and the finals. The thing with Jenna, I know that you didn't have to put yourself through that and that you did it for me, and it means a lot. And now, with this trip. I know I probably don't say it often enough, but I really appreciate everything you do for me and all the sacrifices you make. Your life would probably be a _whole_ lot simpler without me in it."

"But not nearly as good," he countered. "Trust me, I lived for a century and a half _without_ you, it's not that much fun at all. I mean, sure, not having to take anyone else into consideration and only worrying about yourself _is_ easier but … I don't know, I definitely wouldn't go back. And you and Jenna and Jeremy are a package deal, I've always known that. It's not a matter of _putting up_ with anything, really, and I haven't sacrificed _anything_ to be with you, at least nothing I wasn't willing to give up. Isn't that what the whole relationship thing is about, compromises? I mean, if anyone's had to sacrifice anything in this relationship, it's _you_."

For a moment, Elena didn't say anything, marveling at the … mature way in which he talked about it. Back when she had first met Damon, she wouldn't have believed it if someone had told her that, one day, he would choose this life over his old one. The first few months after they had gotten together, she had doubted that he would be able to leave behind everything that had been his life, his entire _existence_, for so long, but he had never given her any reason to think like that, it had all been her own insecurities.

"Thank you for making compromises, then," she said. "And, just like you said, I haven't given up anything that I wasn't willing to. Plus, I'm getting so much more in return."

"What, eternal life and youth? I knew you were only using me for that!"

She didn't even acknowledge his joke. "Well, yeah, that too, but … mostly just you. Forever and ever and ever."

"And then some."

"Exactly." She closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath and just enjoying the moment.

"And you're not worried that you'll get bored with me after a few centuries?" he wondered, trying to sound like he was still joking. But Elena could hear the hint of doubt in his voice.

"Aren't _you_ worried that you'll get bored with _me_ after a few centuries?" she countered. It really was something she worried about from time to time, that he'd get tired of her after a few decades, or centuries.

"Never."

Hearing him say that made her heart leap. "See?"

* * *

Jenna and Maddy were ready to go when they got to Mystic Falls and the four of them soon continued on their way north. A little after one in the afternoon, they stopped for lunch at a diner outside Baltimore. When both Elena and Damon had finished, Jenna was still trying to get Maddy to eat, her own food untouched on the plate in front of her.

"Why don't I do that?" Elena suggested, holding her hand out for the fork. "You finish your own food."

"Thanks," Jenna said gratefully, handing over the fork. "I'm used to not getting to eat my food while it's hot, but usually we have the whole day at our disposal: now we're on a schedule."

"Not a problem." Elena scooped up some mashed potatoes on the fork and Maddy obediently opened her mouth.

"Now why doesn't she do that when I'm feeding her?" Jenna complained after swallowing the first bite of her pasta. "It's discrimination!"

"Because I'm your favorite aunt, right Maddy?" Elena said with a smile, and Maddy banged her little hands against the table, mouth open wide for the next bite.

Jenna just shook her head. "Traitor."

It only worked for a little while, though, then a large German shepherd passing by outside the window caught Maddy's attention. "Puppy!" she exclaimed, pointing at the dog.

"I don't think that's a puppy," Elena corrected her. "It's a dog, can you say dog?"

"Dog! Woof woof!"

"That's right, the dog says 'woof'," Elena agreed, holding up another forkful of food, but Maddy shook her head, mouth tightly shut.

"She's probably full," Jenna concluded after checking how much food was left on the plate. "I have some snacks that I can give her in the car if she gets hungry on the way."

"So do you wanna go in the car again?" Elena asked Maddy. "Do you like riding in the car?"

"Unca Dem bi ca!"

"Yes, Uncle Damon has a big car," Jenna translated.

"Maddy go ca aaaah taj."

Jenna laughed. "You wanna go in the car all the time?"

"Wiw Doa."

"Dora's her doll," Jenna explained. "From Dora the Explorer … I think."

Damon was watching her and Maddy with an incredulous look on his face. "How the he … heck do you understand what she's saying?" he asked. "I didn't even hear my own name in there."

"It takes a _lot_ of practice," Jenna replied, cleaning Maddy's face with a wet wipe before pulling her bib off. "And some guesswork. But I don't understand everything, far from it. Luckily, she doesn't need much encouragement; all you have to do is smile and nod if you don't understand her. She gets really mad if you ask what she means, though. Rick does that sometimes and she gets absolutely _furious_." As if to demonstrate, Maddy started babbling and Jenna smiled and nodded before glancing at Damon. "Not a clue."

"Heck!" Maddy exclaimed, pointing at Damon and laughing.

"Good thing I censored myself at the last minute," he noted, shaking his head. "She's like a sponge, picks up _everything_."

"Tell me about it." Jenna rolled her eyes. "I said the S-word _once_ a couple of weeks ago, and it was all she would say for days. A little hard to explain to the people at the daycare center, let me tell you."

Elena laughed. "Doesn't she pick up words from the kids there?"

"She does. One day, she kept going on about 'Millie' this and 'Millie' that, and I had no idea what she was talking about, since we don't know anyone by that name and there's no kid at daycare called that either. Turned out one of the kids had gotten a kitten that was called Millie. Took us _days_ to figure that out. OK, I'm done, let's get going!"

They were soon on the road again and, after a few bathroom breaks, they spotted the New York skyline in the distance a little before five in the afternoon.

"God, I haven't been here in _ages_," Jenna said. "I've missed it, the big city life. Chinese food in the middle of the night, Gorilla Coffee, CBGB's, lazy Sundays in Central Park."

"You've been to CBGB's?" Damon wondered, meeting Jenna's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Of course!" she exclaimed incredulously. "There's no way around CBGB's when you live in New York, especially if you're dating a guitarist."

"I was there when it opened," he told her. "And several times after that. The Ramones, Blondie, Velvet Underground, Joan Jett and the Runaways. Great club."

"I know," Jenna agreed. "I can't believe it closed down."

"Yeah, that sucked. But, on the plus side, the John Varvatos store that's in the building now has kept a lot of the old décor intact. It's almost like being in the actual club, and the clothes are a nice bonus. When did you live in the city?"

"After I left Mystic Falls," Jenna replied. "Or 'fled', if you want to be picky about it. I was sick of the small-town life, everyone knowing absolutely everything about everyone else, and New York is pretty much as big as it gets, so it felt like exactly what I needed. I loved living here, I really did. It was right for me at that point in my life. But, turns out, I'm a small-town girl at heart. I couldn't imagine living here now, especially not with Maddy."

"Yeah, I can see your point."

"Have you lived here?" Jenna asked, sounding curious.

Damon nodded. "A couple of times over the years. The first time was right after the turn of the century … the last one, that is. Then again in the forties and the seventies, which was when CBGB's opened, in 1973. I've been back a lot since then, of course, whenever I've had the chance."

"You must have so many memories," Jenna mused out loud. "I mean, I think _I've _done a lot of things in my time, and you've been alive for … a hundred and forty years longer than I have."

Damon laughed. "Yeah, the memories do pile up."

"What's your best memory?"

Damon gave Elena a long look before replying. "The last five years."

Jenna laughed in the back seat. "OK, that's a _little_ cheesy, but I'll buy it."

* * *

**AN: OK, a bit of a time jump in this chapter, I know. I just wanted to get on with the fun stuff, the things that will move the plot forward, so I decided to do just that! The conversation with Maddy at the diner was inspired by real life: I have two friends with small children right now, and it's fascinating to watch them when they're just starting to speak – I understand absolutely nothing, but their mom gets everything. And I didn't just put it in there because I felt like it: there will be a follow up in the next chapter … And some interaction between Jenna and Damon: I decided to give them some common ground so that they would be able to bond a little. Since we haven't found out where Jenna went after she left Mystic Falls when Logan dumped her (at least I don't think so, and my beta doesn't remember it being mentioned on the show either – if it has, I hope you'll be able to look past it) I decided to let her have lived in New York. Then CBGB's was pretty much a given, and it was a funny coincidence that it had been turned into a John Varvatos store, since Damon's supposed to like his clothes, so I decided to put that in the chapter too. OK, now I'm done. Let me know what you thought about the chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Almost a hundred review for this story now – you guys are the best! Keep up the amazing reviewing and I'll keep writing. **_**Vaishu**_** – sorry, but there won't be much more, if anything, of Caroline in this story, and she won't be a vampire. I made the decision not to turn her back in **_**Everything**_**, when I didn't have Katherine come back to Mystic Falls. Hope you're not too disappointed! There might be some new vampire characters, though … And **_**Nessa Lovegood**_**, don't worry about your English, it's great – you don't have to be a native speaker to be able to put your thoughts into words, I should know! OK, let's get on with the story. Jenna and Jeremy meeting, a bit of a walk down memory lane – there will be more, I promise! – and some more interaction between Damon and Maddy. OK, that's it. And lots of hugs for my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter eleven **

"Oh my God!" Jenna exclaimed when Damon pulled up in front of the Four Seasons Hotel by Central Park. "We're staying _here_? One night in this hotel must cost more than I make in a _month_!"

"Depends on which room you want," Damon replied with a smirk. "The most expensive rooms are probably more like an entire year's salary."

"I told him that it was too much," Elena interjected. "But, as usual, he refused to listen to me."

"Didn't you say the exact same thing last time?" Damon pointed out. "And as far as I can remember, you ended up … enjoying the stay." He wagged his eyebrows at her and Elena blushed a little at the memory of the last time they had stayed at the hotel, glad that Jenna couldn't see her from where she was sitting in the back seat.

"You've stayed here before?" her aunt asked.

"Just once," she replied. "Back when we went to that concert my senior year, remember?"

"Right."

"OK, come on," Damon said. "You'll have plenty of time to admire the façade over the next couple of days. Believe it or not, there's an actual _inside_ to the hotel too, not only the pretty exterior."

They got out of the car and he handed the keys to the valet before they entered the building.

"What about our bags?" Jenna looked behind them.

"They'll be brought to our rooms," Elena assured her. "Don't worry."

Damon strode across the lobby towards the reception desk and Elena and Jenna followed him. Maddy had fallen asleep in the car, but was now starting to wake up in Jenna's arms. She looked around herself, a little disoriented, rubbing her eyes.

"Hello and welcome to the Four Seasons Hotel, how may I help you?" a young woman behind the desk asked with a polite – but fake – smile when they stopped in front of her.

"We have a reservation," Damon replied. "Two rooms, under Salvatore."

She turned her attention to a computer screen. "Hang on just a minute … of course." She looked back up at them, the smile now even wider, and Elena assumed that she had seen that they were staying in the executive suites and was hoping to make a big tip. "Mr. Salvatore, welcome. Everything that you asked for has been done and I hope the rooms are to your satisfaction." She put two small envelopes on the counter between them. "Here are your keys, and if you need _anything_, just call down and I'll do my very best to take care of _whatever_ it might be." The smile on her face had gone from polite to inviting, and Elena raised an eyebrow. Was the woman seriously hitting on Damon right in front of her? That was taking 'personal service' a little too far.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he replied dismissively, picking up the envelopes without meeting the woman's eyes. "Which one is the … specially equipped room?"

"This one," the woman told him, touching one of the envelopes and, in the process, his hand. He pulled his hand away and stared at the woman, sending a wave of compulsion her way. Her hand dropped to her side, her eyes slid out of focus and her voice became monotonous. "Have a nice stay at the Four Seasons Hotel."

"Thank you." Damon handed the envelope the receptionist had indicated to Jenna before wrapping an arm around Elena's waist and leading them in the direction of the elevators.

"She was … friendly," Elena noted quietly, voice a little annoyed.

"A little _too_ friendly," he replied, frowning. "Sorry about that, she was bugging me."

"Oh, no, feel free to … discourage anyone like her. I definitely won't mind."

"I thought you didn't like it when I did that?" he pointed out.

"It was for a good cause."

He laughed and pushed the button for the elevators. "Good to know."

Jenna and Maddy caught up to them. "What's the 'special equipment' in our room?" Jenna asked, a little suspiciously, as she turned the envelope over in her hand.

"Relax, I didn't set up some sort of trap or anything," Damon assured her dryly. "I just asked them to childproof the place, which I'm sure they would have done anyway. This is an exclusive hotel, they wouldn't want a lawsuit on their hands because a kid got hurt in one of their rooms just because they didn't take the necessary precautions."

"Oh, well, thanks." Jenna hesitated as they entered the elevator. "You know, I wasn't sure about letting you pay for this trip in the first place, and now that I know where we're staying, I'm starting to think that I shouldn't. This must have cost a fortune."

"Don't worry about it," he disregarded, pushing the buttons for the thirty-first floor. "You're practically family now, you might as well get used to it."

"Trust me, Aunt Jenna, you don't have to worry about the money," Elena told her aunt. "I mean, I haven't actually _seen_ any bank statements, but I'm pretty sure that he could stay here permanently if he wanted to."

"Still in the room," Damon pointed out in a slightly irritated voice. "Or, technically elevator, but whatever. You don't have to talk _about_ me when you can talk _to_ me. And you've never asked me how much money I have, or I would have told you."

Elena shook her head. "I don't care. But I've learned not to worry about the expenses when you pull something like this."

"You make it sound like it's something he does on a regular basis," Jenna noted.

"Well, kind of." Elena shrugged. "I mean, birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries …"

"And much more often if you would only let me," Damon hinted, and Elena rolled her eyes at him. They'd had this conversation before, several times, or at least different versions of it: when he had tried to convince her to let him pay for her college education after she had gotten into Duke, when he had wanted to buy her an apartment in Durham, when she was having car trouble and he had wanted to buy her some new luxury car, and again when she had turned twenty-one and he had wanted to take her to Vegas for an all-week, proper birthday celebration – which in his mind included lots and lots of alcohol and gambling. She didn't mind it if he went to some extremes when it came to her birthday and things like that, but she had to draw the line somewhere.

"I guess money is bound to pile up, like everything else, when you live for a hundred and fifty years," Jenna mused out loud.

Of course, it helped to be able to convince people that they wanted to _give_ you money or inside information, Damon thought. He didn't do that anymore, of course, since he knew without a doubt that Elena wouldn't like it, but he didn't need to, either. He definitely wasn't going to return the money he already had, and they would easily be able to live only on the interest he got from his various bank accounts around the world, not to mention the profits from the dozen or so businesses he also owned and the money he made on the stock market. It was a hobby of his, stock trading, and after about fifty years, he had become pretty good at it.

"It does," he agreed. The elevator came to a stop with a 'ding' and the doors opened.

"This is the thirty-first floor," Elena pointed out as they left the elevator.

"Very perceptive of you," Damon complimented her dryly.

"Weren't we on the thirty-second floor last time?"

"And a good memory too. Yes, we were, and we are now too, but there are only rooms with terraces up there, and I didn't think Jenna would want to stay in one of those with Maddy. Not very kid safe," he explained, looking at the directory before heading left. "So they're on this floor and we're on the next."

"Oh."

"You're staying in the same room that you stayed in when you were here five years ago?" Jenna wondered as she and Elena followed Damon down the hallway.

"Yeah," Elena replied with a smile. "Damon said that he's feeling a little nostalgic."

"That's sweet. Romantic."

"And here we are," Damon said, coming to a stop in front of a door at the end of the hallway and trying not to pay too much attention to Jenna. He didn't mind the 'romantic' part much, but 'sweet'? That _definitely_ wasn't him …

Jenna put the electronic key card in the lock and opened the door, a gasp escaping her as it swung open. "Wow!" she exclaimed, going into the suite. "This is _amazing_!"

Elena followed her through the door, looking around.

"Why don't you make sure they really did kiddie proof it?" Damon suggested from the hallway, and both Jenna and Elena turned to find him leaning against the opposite wall.

"You're not coming in?" Elena asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, that's OK, I'll just wait out here," he replied. "Go ahead, explore."

"You don't have to do that," Jenna told him. "Come on in."

He hesitated for a moment, but then came into the suite and closed the door behind him. Elena waited until Jenna had gone into the living room to admire the view before she spoke in a hushed tone. "What was that? I thought you didn't need an invitation at hotels?"

"I don't," he told her. "But Jenna doesn't know that, so I thought I'd give her the option of not letting me into her room."

She squeezed his hand. "That was very sweet of you."

Again with the 'sweet'. It was his turn to raise his eyebrows at her. "Sweet?"

"OK, sorry, not sweet. It was very manly, very … macho, very … sorry, can't think of anything else."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah."

Maddy came stumbling out of the living room at that moment, tripping over her own feet in her hurry to get wherever she was going. Damon caught her before she fell over, though, and swung her up in the air before settling her on his hip. "So, is the room to milady's liking?" he asked, tickling her. Maddy immediately started wriggling and squealing.

"This place really is …" Jenna cut herself off when she saw Maddy in Damon's arms and, for a moment, Elena thought that she might freak out and yank her daughter away from him. But she didn't. "It's too much, really, I don't know how to thank you," she continued.

Damon had frozen when he had seen the flash of worry on Jenna's face and relaxed when she didn't start yelling at him to let Maddy go. "Good, I'm glad you like it. And Little Miss Ticklish here seems to approve too."

"Tee!" Maddy exclaimed, pointing past Jenna into the living room.

"Trees?" Damon wondered. "That's Central Park."

"Up!"

He laughed. "Yes, I'm sure there are swings in the park, we'll have to check that out some day."

"Down!" Maddy started to wriggle again, indicating that she was bored where she was, and Damon put her down on the floor.

"See, you're not half-bad at interpreting baby-talk either," Jenna noted, following her daughter on her now slower progress towards the bedroom.

"Those weren't _that_ hard," he brushed it off, turning to Elena, who was watching him with a slightly incredulous look on her face. "What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head. "Just … Damon Salvatore, the baby whisperer."

His eyes narrowed. "Shut up," he muttered, quietly enough so that Maddy wouldn't hear.

Elena laughed and followed Jenna and Maddy into the bedroom, where there was a crib set up for Maddy next to the large bed.

"I think I might be able to sleep here," Jenna said, flopping down on the bed. "Oh, yeah, definitely. A girl could get used to this."

"I don't think you'll have any trouble sleeping," Elena agreed. "If I remember correctly, the beds are _very_ comfortable."

Damon gave her a look that clearly told her what he was planning on doing in that bed – and it didn't have anything to do with sleeping – and she quickly looked away from him to keep from blushing.

"Why don't we let you settle in, unpack or whatever," he suggested, turning to Jenna. "We said that we would be at Jeremy and Anna's place at six, so that means we have to leave in …" he glanced at his watch, "… fifteen minutes, actually."

"OK, why don't Maddy and I meet you down in the lobby?" Jenna replied. "I just want to change real quick, I feel all gross after spending the entire day in a car. Which means I need my bag, I thought you said that they were going to bring it up here?"

"I'm sure they'll be here any minute," Elena told her. "We're gonna get going, check out our own room. See you downstairs in a little while."

Jenna walked with them to the door and, as if someone had heard what she had said a moment ago, there was a knock on the door just as Elena was about to open it. "And that would be your bags," Damon concluded, reaching past Elena to open the door and let the bellboy in.

They left Jenna to get ready and took the elevator up to the next floor.

"This place hasn't changed much," Elena noted as they walked down the hallway. The carpet had been replaced with one in a slightly darker color but, other than that, everything looked pretty much as she remembered it.

"They stick with what works," Damon replied, shrugging. "The notion of 'luxury' is pretty permanent."

They reached their door and he opened it, standing aside to let her into the suite first. Their bags had already been brought up and were waiting for them inside the door.

"This brings back memories," she said, glancing at him over her shoulder as she went into the living room.

"Care to take a little stroll down memory lane?" he wondered, following her into the room.

She turned to look at him. "In thirteen minutes?"

"You know that, normally, I like to …" he took a few steps closer, reached out to loop one finger through a hoop on her jeans and pulled her closer, "… take my time, but it's been a _long_ drive, and we're bound to be at Jeremy and Anna's for _hours_."

"Oh yeah?" She reached up, as if to kiss him, but stopped when their lips were an inch or so apart. "You're gonna have to keep that thought until we get back tonight."

Leaving him standing there, she went back into the foyer and grabbed her bag.

"Tease!" he called after her, but she just laughed before going into the bedroom to change, closing the door behind her.

* * *

It was a few minutes after six when the cab they had taken from the hotel pulled up in front of the building that Jeremy and Anna lived in.

"This is a nice building," Jenna noted when they had gotten out of the car. "I love the Village, but I could never afford a place here when I lived in the city, of course."

"Where did you live when you were here?" Damon wondered, holding the door open for Elena, Jenna and Maddy.

"I moved around a lot, subletting different apartments, mostly in Brooklyn. But I had a couple of friends at NYU and we went to John's Pizzeria in the Village at least once a week. They have _the_ best pizza in New York, hands down."

"It is pretty good," Elena agreed, leading the way up the stairs. "We've ordered from there a couple of times."

"Have you tried their garlic bread?"

"Nope, just the pizza."

"You have to try it next time, it's the best I've ever had." Jenna got an almost dreamy look in her eyes and Elena laughed.

"Maybe we can do a movie-slash-pizza night tomorrow or Tuesday?" she suggested. "So you can get some of that garlic bread."

"Oh, yes, can we do that?"

"Of course," Elena assured her, coming to a stop in front of Jeremy's door. "This is it."

Jenna took a deep breath. "OK, I'm ready, you can knock."

The door opened to reveal Anna, a smile on her face. "No need, we heard you coming. Welcome, come on in." She opened the door wider and stepped aside to let them in, revealing Jeremy, who seemed to be hanging back and was looking a little hesitant.

"Hey, Aunt Jenna," he greeted her with a slightly insecure half-smile and a wave. "Elena, Damon."

Elena, seeing that Jenna was hesitating a little too, went into the apartment and gave Jeremy a big hug. "Hey, Jere, good to see you."

He hugged her back. "You too, sis. Having finished college looks good on you."

Elena made a shushing sound as she let go of him. "Don't say that, you'll jinx it. I haven't gotten my results back yet, for all I know I failed every one of my finals."

"Oh, come on, you know that's not true," Jeremy disregarded her worry. "You'll do great."

"So, Anna, need a hand in the kitchen?" Damon asked suddenly, and Elena realized that he wanted to give her, Jeremy and Jenna a moment alone. Either that, or he didn't want to be around for all the emotional stuff that was bound to be coming, but she chose to believe it was the first option. She sent him a grateful look and he winked at her.

"Yes, actually, you can help me with the … vegetables," Anna replied quickly, picking up on his intentions. "Come on."

They disappeared down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen, leaving the foyer in silence.

Maddy, who had up until now been quiet in Jenna's arms, decided that she was bored. "Down!" she ordered, drawing Jenna's attention away from Jeremy for a moment. She put Maddy down on the floor, holding onto her hand so that she wouldn't take off. She might not be walking all that steadily yet, but she still moved surprisingly fast when she got going.

"It's _so_ good to see you," Jenna said, taking a step closer to Jeremy. "You have no idea."

He smiled that half-smile again. "I think I do. Might even have been harder for me. At least you didn't know I was alive."

"Don't you _dare_! Do you think it was easy for me, thinking that you were _dead_?" Jenna snapped. "Do you have any idea what I went through back then, thinking that you had just disappeared in the middle of freaking nowhere? The images that flashed through my mind every time I closed my eyes for months? Mass murderers, wild animal attacks, I don't know what else."

Jeremy got a sheepish look on his face. "No, I know it must have been really hard for you. I'm sorry about that, you know I am."

Jenna took a deep breath before answering, probably trying to calm down. She had said that she didn't want to think about the past, especially not during this trip when she got to meet Jeremy for the first time in years. "You'd better be. And I'm still mad at you. Just so you know." She glanced at Elena. "And the rest of you too, for that matter. The next time you think about trying to 'spare my feelings' or some crap like that, don't, OK?"

"We won't," Elena promised immediately. She had a feeling Jenna needed to get this out before she could move on to enjoying spending time with Jeremy again. And, after all, what were the odds of something like this happening _again_?

"You have every right to be mad," Jeremy assured Jenna. "I get it, and I understand if it'll take some time before you're … comfortable being around me, that's OK."

"No!" Jenna exclaimed. "Or, well … I don't want to lie, so maybe a little. This _is _all new to me, you have to remember that." She turned to Elena, a slightly pleading look on her face. "But I did pretty good with Damon today, didn't I?"

"You did great," Elena agreed. "And it'll get easier. Before you know it, you won't even think about it anymore."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Jeremy joked.

"But you're … you're doing good?" Jenna asked, a slightly worried expression appearing on her face as she turned her attention back to Jeremy. "I mean, it must take some adjusting, becoming a … this whole new life."

Elena could understand that Jenna had some trouble saying the word 'vampire'.

"It's really not that different," Jeremy hurried to tell her. "Sometimes I don't even think about it myself, since I feel just the same as I used to, I guess mainly because of this." He held up the hand where he was wearing the ring that Bonnie had spelled for him. "If I didn't have it, it probably would have been another story, what with the whole 'only going out at night' thing, but now I don't even have to worry about the sunshine."

"Right, Elena said that you had one of those." Jenna scrutinized the ring as well as she could from nine feet away. "It looks just like a normal ring."

"Yeah, it does." Jeremy twisted the ring on his finger. "And it was too, before Bonnie put the daylight spell thing on it."

Elena groaned: she hadn't realized that he was going to mention Bonnie, or she would have asked him not to.

"Bonnie?" Jenna asked, turning to Elena with raised eyebrows. "I thought you said that it was an old friend of Damon's who did the spell?"

Elena sighed. "I just didn't think it was my place to tell you about Bonnie being a witch," she explained. "So that's why I said it was someone else. Of course, I forgot to mention that part to Jeremy." She gave her brother a reproachful look.

"Sorry," he apologized, shrugging. "I didn't know it was a secret."

"I won't say anything to her, if that's what you're worried about," Jenna assured Elena. "I can understand if she doesn't want everyone to know."

"Thanks."

"Though, I have to say, I'm not that surprised," Jenna continued. "I mean, there were rumors about her grandmother while I was growing up, about how she was a witch. All the kids were afraid of walking past her house on their own and whenever something weird would happen in Mystic Falls, everyone always said it was her."

"I doubt much of _that_ was true." Elena could only imagine the kinds of things that kids would be saying about a slightly creepy woman.

"Probably not. But you're really good?" Jenna repeated, returning to the previous subject.

"I'm really good, Aunt Jenna," Jeremy told her sincerely. "I mean, school's good, I love living here in New York, and me and Anna are doing great. Now that I get to see you again, and Maddy, things couldn't be better."

Jenna nodded, looking relieved. "Good, I'm glad." She frowned a little, moving another couple of steps closer to him. "Can I … I mean, would it be OK if I gave you a hug?"

Elena could see the relief in Jeremy's eyes, but he tried not to let it show. "If you have to," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant. He took a couple of steps closer to Jenna as well, though, but stopped before he reached her, wanting to let her take the last step.

"Come on, Maddy," Elena said, holding out her hand to Maddy who took it, releasing Jenna's hand.

"I won't bite," Jeremy promised, a teasing smile on his face, and Jenna laughed once.

"Not funny," she told him, taking the last steps necessary and, still a little hesitantly, wrapped her arms around him.

"Too soon, sorry," he apologized, hugging her back carefully.

As soon as she felt his arms around her, it was like everything finally clicked into place for Jenna, and she hugged him back tightly. "I've missed you."

"I know, me too. So much."

It didn't look like they were going to break apart any time soon, so Elena gave Jeremy a questioning look, nodding in the direction of the hallway and kitchen to ask if it was OK that she left them alone. He nodded a little, and she picked up Maddy before heading in the direction of the kitchen.

Both Anna and Damon looked up when she entered the room. "I take it he didn't eat her," Damon assumed, and Anna elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! When you do it, it actually _hurts_!"

Elena ignored him, turning to Anna with a smile. "I think they'll be OK."

* * *

**AN: So, how was that? I didn't want Jenna to lash out too much at Jeremy – she did that during their conversation over the phone – but seeing him would still remind her of everyone having lied to her, so I thought a bit of an angry outburst was in place. OK, please let me know what you thought! Let's get this story past a hundred reviews!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I thought it was time to get to know Anna a little better – we never had time to hear much of her story on the show, since she was killed off so early. Everything is, of course, part of my imagination, but still: it **_**could**_** have been like this on the show! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, actually, getting to explore possible lives Anna could have had before becoming a vampire. And I've done my homework, so all the practical details – dates, places, names and their meanings – are correct. Though I have to admit, I don't know much about life during the sixteenth century, and it's not easy to find any information on the internet, either, so part of that is guesswork, based on what I imagine was generally accepted back then. I hope you enjoy reading that part! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, taking the story past 100 reviews – 110 now, guys, you're the best! And lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578, who makes sure I don't get anything wrong! **

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter twelve**

"This is really good," Jenna remarked in a slightly surprised voice after a few bites of Anna's baked salmon with rice and pineapple salsa.

"You don't have to sound so shocked about it," Jeremy told her, laughing. "Anna's a really good cook, she's even been teaching me for a while now. But I'm not a very good student, unfortunately."

"You're doing OK, for a guy," Anna said with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean, that we can't cook?" Damon asked, sounding a little insulted. "Just because …"

"You always were completely useless in the kitchen, Jere," Elena interrupted, knowing, from experience, that Damon and Anna could easily get into a full blown fight if nobody stepped in. They had a way to push each other's buttons and could turn any subject, really, into an argument.

"I wasn't shocked, I just …" Jenna started, but Anna cut her off.

"I think what your aunt means is that it's a little surprising that I can cook," she assumed, giving Jenna a smile to assure her that she wasn't offended. "Since we don't technically have to eat, I mean."

"Yeah, that's what I was getting at," Jenna confirmed. "No offence."

Anna laughed. "None taken. But it gets a little boring, eating the same thing day in and day out. I mean, you could technically eat the same type of food all the time, right? You would be able to survive at least. And there are things that you eat even if you don't have to, just because it tastes good. It's the same thing with us, really. We don't really _have_ to eat normal food, but we do because we like it."

Jenna nodded. "I guess I can see your point. I mean, I love lasagna, but I still wouldn't want to eat it every single day, breakfast, lunch and dinner."

"Exactly!" Anna agreed. "And we still have our own favorites. Jeremy loves pizza, for one, and I'm a sucker for chocolate."

"I guess it's gonna take me a little while to get used to the idea that you're not so different from the rest of us," Jenna concluded.

"Well, years of vampire stories _are_ bound to leave their mark," Damon noted, sounding a little annoyed. "I blame Bram Stoker, he was the one who made everyone believe that vampires are these really pale loners who sleep in coffins and go around biting people left and right. And what's up with the whole cloak thing? Didn't the guy have _any_ taste at all?"

"Yeah, you _really_ have a problem with the whole stereotype thing, don't you?" Anna laughed, probably remembering when he'd gotten mad at her for dressing up as a traditional vampire for Halloween years ago. "You might want to talk to somebody about that, it could be a sign of some deeper issues."

"I'll see if Doctor Phil feels like doing a special episode on vampires and their mental problems," Damon replied dryly.

"You have to give me the recipe for this," Elena interjected, again trying to prevent an argument.

"Absolutely," Anna replied. "I'll e-mail it to you."

"And me," Jenna added. "It's really good."

"Maybe I should start a cooking class," Anna joked.

"You totally should," Jeremy said immediately. "Seriously, you're the best cook I've ever met."

Jenna nodded. "I have to agree with him. Where did you learn?"

"Well, basic cooking skills were something that I was taught when I was still human," Anna started. "We had servants and everything, but a young woman was still supposed to know how to cook. For some reason, it rated high when it came to attracting eligible suitors. I don't know why, since no women of class would be caught dead even setting foot in a kitchen after she was married. But it was expected, so my mother taught me. It was one of the few 'lady-like' things I actually enjoyed learning."

"When was this?" Jenna wondered, and Elena listened a little more closely. She had always been curious about Anna's past, but had never been able to bring herself to ask about it. She had found out bits and pieces over the years, but not much.

"It was during the 1580's," Anna revealed, and Jenna's eyes widened.

"You were born in the sixteenth century?" she asked incredulously. "So you're …"

"I'll be four-hundred and forty-seven in September." Anna smiled at the expression on Jenna's face. "I was born in Lisbon, in Portugal, on September tenth in 1568."

"Wow!" Jenna shook her head. "I can't even imagine what life back then must have been like."

"Let's just say it was _really_ different," Anna said, a shadow crossing her face. "Tough I suppose I was lucky: we were part of the upper classes, so it could have been a lot worse. But the whole … how people saw the world and each other, especially the view on women, it's changed so much since then, I can't even begin to explain."

"The upper classes, plural, what does that mean?" Elena wondered, not able to contain her curiosity.

"Well, we weren't part of the highest social group," Anna explained. "My father, Manuel Joaninho, was a merchant, and he had earned his money himself, so we weren't what you would call 'old money'. Back then, there was a big difference between those two groups, the rich who came from old money and the rich who didn't. Those who did come from old money didn't like to socialize with the rest of us, at least not in everyday life. When there was a big social event, everyone with enough money was invited, though, so we all moved in pretty much the same circles. And we still lived very comfortably. Like I said, we had servants, a cook, maids … I had everything I wanted."

"So you're father was Portuguese," Jenna assumed. "But your mother isn't, right? I mean … or maybe Pearl isn't your mom. I just assumed that she was …"

"No, she was my mother." Anna got a slightly sad look on her face. "My father traveled to China a lot in the 1560's, and that's where they met. She was the daughter of one of Shangchuan's richest and most powerful men, and he _really_ wasn't happy when she fell in love with a European merchant. He told her that she wasn't allowed to see my father since he was below her in the social hierarchy but, in the end, she ran away from home and went back to Portugal with him. Her name was Mei-Zhen, which means 'beautiful pearl', so when we came to the new world, she took that name instead."

"'The new world'," Jeremy said and laughed. "You sound _really_ ancient when you say it like that."

"Shut up!"

"And _not_ so ancient when you say _that_."

"You said that your father's name was Manuel … I can't pronounce it," Jenna continued. "So did you change your last name to Johnson when you came here, like your mom changed her name? I'm sorry, if you think I'm asking too many questions you can tell me to butt out. I'm just curious."

Anna laughed. "No, it's not a problem. I don't talk about it that often, and it's nice to remember now and then. And if there's something I don't want to talk about, I'll let you know. Yes, we changed our last name to Johnson when we came here. My name is really Anabela Manuela Lia Joaninho, but that's not very American."

"Those are beautiful names," Elena noted. "Do they mean anything special, like your mom's name?"

"Well, Manuela was after my father, obviously. It was pretty common back then. My mother picked Anabela and Lia. Anabela is the Portuguese form of Annabel which means 'beautiful' or 'graceful', I think. And Lia is from the Chinese name Li-Hua, which means 'pearl blossom'. Mother chose it because of her own name, so that we would have a connection there."

"Wow!" Jenna exclaimed. "I didn't put _nearly_ that much thought into Maddy's name."

The others laughed. "I like Madison," Anna then said. "And her middle name's Miranda, right? After Jeremy and Elena's mom? I think that's nice, family names to honor those who aren't with us anymore."

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, it is. I always knew that if I had a daughter her middle name would be Miranda. And Madison … I don't know where we got that. We had a list with a bunch of names, and Madison was the one that fit her the most. That's the whole story, really."

"Don't worry, Aunt Jenna," Elena said in an amused voice. "If you want, I can help you come up with some amazing story to tell her if she asks you about her name. Like … your best friend growing up was called Madison, and when you were seven, she moved away and you never saw her again, but you never forgot her and how much fun you had when you were playing as kids."

"Thanks," Jenna replied a little skeptically. "I'll keep that in mind. But getting back to your story …" she turned back to Anna, a look similar to that of a child hearing an exciting story on her face, "… how old were you when you were … turned?"

"I was fifteen," Anna replied. "About to turn sixteen."

"That's young."

Anna nodded. "Yeah, it is. But it's not like it was planned or anything."

"How …" Jenna started. "I mean … who …"

"One of the richest and most admired and influential men in Lisbon at that time was dom Estançinho Goterrez," Anna said, the name coming out almost like a swearword. "He moved to the city when I was twelve, and had more money than the rest of the upper classes put together, or at least that's what people said. He was very private, he had a huge mansion on the outskirts of the city and you hardly ever saw him outside it. Now I know why – he couldn't leave the house until after nightfall – but, back then, it just added to the mystique around him. My father, who was very ambitious, wanted to expand his shipping company and start trading in more goods and with America – any merchant could trade with the Far East, Africa and the countries around the Mediterranean, and he wanted to get into the supposedly very lucrative market on the other side of the Atlantic . Everyone back then knew that most of the people who had gone to America were extremely wealthy, and those who hadn't been before they left Europe had made a fortune as soon as they got to the Promised Land. There were all sorts of crazy stories about heaps of gold just laying around for the picking, jewels the size of chicken eggs, stuff like that. Anyway, even if my father made a lot of money on his business, he didn't have enough to pull off a move like that. So he tried to get dom Goterrez to help him, finance the expansion in exchange for a part of the company. It took him years to even get a personal audience, a meeting, and when he finally did, Goterrez said no without even thinking it over. But we still got into his sphere of … not friends, really, but the people who were invited to the parties he held once a month. The people who helped him uphold the façade of a rich nobleman. I hadn't officially 'come out' yet, but I was still allowed to accompany my parents to these events and, I think it was after the third one I went to, dom Goterrez approached my father and said that he had changed his mind and was willing to invest in the shipping company. If he got me in the bargain."

Elena's eyes widened and Jenna gasped. "But he couldn't do that!" she exclaimed. "You can't sell a human being, you can't just give your own child away as … as a part of a business deal! Please tell me that he didn't do it!"

Anna shook her head. "No, but not because he didn't want to. And, back then, marriage really wasn't much more than a business transaction. The problem was that I was already promised to someone else, the son of my father's richest business associate, and you didn't back out of a 'deal' like that. It would have disgraced our family forever, destroyed any chance my younger brothers had to make good matches. Nobody would want to get involved with a family who broke agreements like that, no matter how rich they were. So my father had to tell Goterrez no."

"Why do I get the feeling that didn't stop him?" Damon joined the conversation for the first time in a long while, his voice disgusted.

"Maybe because it didn't," Anna replied. "He pretended to accept it, but he was really only biding his time until he could do something about it. Three weeks later, one of his servants – though they were really more like puppets, since he controlled their every move – broke into our house in the middle of the night and kidnapped me. Goterrez couldn't do it himself, obviously, since he couldnt't come into the house without an invitation, or I'm sure he would have. I still don't know if my father was involved or not …" she got a wondering look in her eyes, as if the question still bothered her. "Whether it was payment for me, hush money or some kind of twisted way for Goterrez to try to make it up to my family for taking their only daughter from them I don't know, but my father got the money to expand his business, anyway."

Everyone was silent for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

"I spent the first couple of weeks locked up in a room in Goterrez' mansion," Anna then continued. "He visited me at night, only to talk. He was actually almost pleasant to talk to, when he didn't get one of his … outbursts. I realized pretty quickly that there was something not quite right about him. When I asked him about it, he didn't even try to deny it, but started telling me about his life, how he had been turned two hundred years earlier by a cruel vampire from the north. He was kept almost as a slave, and I think that's part of the reason why he was so … well, insane, really, there's no other way to put it. He kept going on about how I was his dark princess, how we were going to rule Lisbon together, make the people in the city our subjects. I was afraid of upsetting him – I learned the hard way that he was _very_ unpredictable when he didn't get what he wanted – so I didn't argue, I just let him paint his fairytales, even though it made me sick to my stomach to listen to them. One night, when I had been there for almost a month, he asked me if I wanted to see the rest of the house, the gardens, the grounds. I said that I would love to – I hadn't been outside since I got there and was getting a little claustrophobic at that point, even if the room I was staying in was five times as big as my bedroom at home – and he said that I just had to do one thing first. And then he forced me to drink his blood."

Jenna frowned at that. "Gross," she said, a shiver running through her. "Why?"

Anna glanced at Elena, then Damon. "We haven't told her the exact … mechanics of the vampire transformation process," he explained. "We didn't think it was necessary, but now the vamps out of the bag, so …"

"Sorry," Anna apologized, shooting Elena a remorseful look.

"No, tell me," Jenna insisted. "I can take it."

Anna and Jeremy exchanged a look, then Jeremy nodded. "OK, so to become a vampire," he started, "you have to drink another vampire's blood."

Jenna raised her eyebrows. "Is that it?"

Jeremy sighed. "No, not exactly. You then have to die, while you have the blood in your system."

"You have to … die?" Jenna repeated, and he nodded. "So you really did die …"

He laughed once. "Yeah, I did. Only I came back, pretty much right away."

"OK, well, I guess it's a plus that you didn't stay dead for very long," Jenna noted, a slightly shaky laugh escaping her.

"So he forced me to drink his blood," Anna picked up her story again. "I didn't know what it would do – he hadn't told me that part of his story, probably so he would be able to trick me like he did – so I didn't fight it. I figured it was a way for him to control me: I had seen how he could get the other humans who lived in the mansion to do whatever he wanted them to. I thought that maybe it would wear off after a while, so I tried to not swallow too much so that it wouldn't last as long and maybe I would be able to defy him while we were outside and escape. The actual blood-drinking wasn't exactly pleasant, but not that horrible either …"

"And then he killed you," Jenna completed the sentence, her voice barely more than a whisper. Anna nodded.

"Yeah. And, unlike Jeremy, I had no idea what to expect, so waking up was … a shock, to say the least."

Elena was grateful that Anna edited out the blood-drinking part that completed the transformation: sure, Jenna knew that vampires drank blood, but they didn't have to shove that fact in her face all the time.

"Then what happened?" Jenna asked breathlessly.

"He started talking about leaving Lisbon," Anna said. "We couldn't stay there forever, since neither of us would age. After a while, people would start getting suspicious, and he had already been there for over three years at that point. But, even if I was more or less considered a grown woman, I was still a child too, and I missed my mother. We'd had a very close relationship up until then, since I was the only girl, and I was used to having her around all the time, to be able to talk to her about everything. Here I was, the biggest change in my life, and I had no-one to talk to. I probably shouldn't have said anything, but I couldn't help it. So he got her too. For me." The guilt was evident, both in Anna's voice and on her face, and Jeremy squeezed her hand.

"Hey, if you hadn't done that, she would have died four hundred years ago, right?" he pointed out. "And she never would have found out what happened to you. Don't you think she would have been miserable, always wondering?"

Anna smiled a little. "Maybe. But I still felt really selfish, even if she told me over and over for decades – I don't know how many times – that she was glad that I did."

"So he turned your mother because you _asked_ him to?" Damon wondered in a disbelieving voice. "And you don't think that was just a _little_ … oh, I don't know, _selfish_?"

Jeremy looked like he was about to get in Damon's face, but Anna put a hand on his arm, at the same time shooting Damon a look. "No, I didn't _ask_ him to turn her, of course not."

"She did," Jenna assumed and Anna nodded.

"It didn't take her long to figure out what was going on," she said. "They had vampire stories in China when she was growing up too. She didn't even say anything to me before it happened, so I was a little shocked when I realized what she had done." She turned to Damon, giving him questioning and challenging look. "Aren't you going to ask why she would do that?"

He slowly shook his head. "No. I get it."

"I guess I always sort of assumed that it was the other way around," Elena said. "That Pearl was turned first and that she turned you because she didn't want to watch you grow old and die."

"Nope."

The silence in the room was almost deafening for a moment, everyone wrapped up in their own thoughts. Damon was the first to speak, in an attempt to lighten the mood a little. "Well, that got _really_ depressing," he noted. "Don't you have some _fun_ stories? I mean, you've been around for almost half a millennia, after all. Not even you should be able to avoid all things fun for _that_ long."

"I don't know about _fun_ …" Anna rolled her eyes at him.

"When did you come to the States?" Elena asked.

"Well, we were in Europe for a couple of centuries before we came here," Anna replied. "Goterrez was used to the good life among the upper classes of Europe and he had a routine he stuck to; Lisbon, Madrid, Marseille, Paris, London, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome and Moscow. He would spend about five years in each place, returning under a different name after fifty years when there were very few, if any, who remembered his latest stay there. We went with him, of course. We didn't have much of a choice: he was both older and stronger than us. But he was a cruel man, even for a vampire, and after a couple of decades, we started trying to come up with a plan to escape. We didn't get our chance until after more than two hundred years. We happened to be in Paris during the French Revolution, and Goterrez of course socialized with the elite and the court. He wasn't afraid, why would he be? Even if the guillotine could kill a vampire, you'd first have to get him into it, which he considered an impossibility since he was so much stronger than humans. But mother and I saw our opportunity after the execution of Louis the Sixteenth, Queen Marie-Antoinette and many others who were associated with the court. We somehow managed to get vervain into Goterrez, making him week, and he was executed with others who had, allegedly, conspired against the state. We were finally free." While she had been speaking, Anna's eyes had gotten lost in the distance, as if she was reliving that time. Now, she shook her head a little and seemed to come back to the present. "Anyway, at that point, we were pretty sick of Europe, so we decided to give the land of the dreams a try. Like I said, everybody knew that, if you only made it across the Atlantic, an entire continent of wealth would be open to you. It didn't matter that all anyone had to go by was second-hand information; America simply _had_ to be better than Europe. It was hard; we didn't have our rings yet, of course, so we had to hide out in a cargo ship the entire journey. But we got here eventually."

"Wow," Jenna exclaimed. "That's quite a story."

Anna laughed. "I didn't even go into detail: we'd be here for _days_ if I had."

Everyone laughed; Elena a little uncomfortably, since she knew what _kind_ of details Anna had left out of her story. She wasn't sure if Jenna had made that connection too, or if she assumed that Anna had always been a 'good' vampire. Either way, she didn't seem bothered by the girl, which was good.

Hopefully, in time, she'd be as comfortable around vampires as Elena was.

* * *

"I'd like to go out on a limb and call the night a success," Damon said later that evening, when he and Elena were walking down the corridor to their hotel room. "Nobody panicked, nobody cried – well, except for a few tears of what I'm guessing was happiness – and nobody died."

"That's your idea of 'success'?" Elena asked amusedly, despite agreeing with him that the night had gone very well, even better than she had hoped.

"Sure. You know, the trick of never being disappointed is to not have high expectations to begin with," he told her, winking. "That way, you'll only be pleasantly surprised if something goes better than expected."

She knew that he wasn't really serious, but still couldn't help but laugh at his reasoning.

"So all the expectations you had of tonight were fulfilled?" she wondered.

"The evening isn't over yet," he replied, giving her a pointed look and unlocking the door to their suite, holding it open for her.

"I guess that's true," she agreed. "We still have … what's this?" The short hallway leading to the bedroom was lined with lit candles, and the door to both the bedroom and the living room were open, the flickering light coming from the rooms indicating that there must be candles in there too. From the living room, the sound of music floated out to where they were standing.

"I believe this is what they call a 'romantic setting'," Damon replied, taking her hand and leading her into the living room.

"When did you do all this?" Elena mumbled, taking in the room: lit candles, music, the beautiful night view of Central Park … it was amazing.

"Well, I didn't do it _personally_. I just gave the concierge a _very_ big tip to have it done by the time we got back." He came up behind her, kissing her shoulder. "You like?"

As he spoke, the music coming from the entertainment center changed, and Elena recognized 'their' song; _Everything_ by Lifehouse, the song they'd danced to in this very hotel suite, almost five years ago.

"I _love_," she replied honestly.

"Dance with me," Damon requested, wrapping his arms around her waist as he spoke, and she willingly turned in his embrace.

"I knew there was a romantic hiding somewhere in there," she said with a smile, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't expect him to come out and play very often."

She reached up to kiss him. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Though, if this is the reaction he'll get, I might reconsider," he noted, pulling away from her a little.

Elena laughed, a little breathlessly. "What was it you said before, about the evening not being over yet?"

"How about if I show you?"

* * *

**AN: A bit of a cliffie, I know. So how many of you want me to pick up where I left off? Click the little button to leave a review, and maybe I will … OK, that was evil bordering on blackmail, I know, but, please, let me know what you thought about the chapter! **


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: OK, first of all, I want to say that, after this chapter, I won't be able to update for a while, I honestly don't know how long. I'm having laser surgery on my eyes tomorrow morning, and they've told me that I should expect to not be able to do much of anything for at least a week, and I don't know how long it'll be after that before I'm able to work on the computer again. But I promise that I **_**will**_** update, as soon as I am – literally – physically capable. I know where I'm going with the story, and pretty much what's going to happen along the way, so I really only have to write it down.  
**

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad you seemed to like Anna's background, like I said, I had a lot of fun writing it. And I thought it would be a nice twist if Anna was turned before Pearl instead of the other way around, which is, I think, what most people would assume. **_**Vaishu**_** – no, Katherine won't be making an appearance in this story, at least not the way I see it unfolding right now. **_**QueQuowle**_** – I'm sorry, but you're outnumbered! If you want me to move ahead with the story line, you might want to skip the first part of this chapter, it doesn't really move the plot along at all. But there will be more family bonding, don't worry about it. I'm just making a bit of a detour to get some smut into the story again! As for Jenna's reaction to Katherine, Isobel and John … I haven't actually planned on bringing that up, at least not in this story. And how Jenna will react to Elena turning … well, we'll get to that! And **_**toffeenutlatte**_**, I totally agree with you: the most interesting part about meeting an actual vampire – if they did exist – would be to hear about everything they've experienced. I think there will be some more of that in this story: like I said a couple of chapters ago, there might be some new vampire characters in the upcoming chapters, though I won't say any more about that right now! OK, that's it, I'm done. Lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578, and now – let's pick up where we left off!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

* * *

**

**Chapter thirteen **

The sense of déjà vu was almost overwhelming as they kissed – the room, the music, the dancing – but, at the same time, everything was so different. Back then, they had both been hesitant, not sure of the other's feelings; now, there was no such doubt, they both knew that their love was reciprocated. Back then, everything had been new, tentative; now, though 'boring' was the last word either of them would use to describe their relationship, they knew each other almost better than they knew themselves and knew exactly how to please each other. Back then, neither of them had known what had been set in motion by that first kiss; now, they knew that they would have the rest of eternity together.

After a few minutes, Elena pulled back, needing to catch her breath for a moment. "You know …" she started, "… I think I like your walks down memory lane."

Damon laughed a little. "Oh yeah?"

"Mmm hmm."

"I'll keep that in mind." He slipped the shoulder strap of her sundress and bra off her left shoulder, following their descent with his lips, kissing her skin. After a moment, he returned the way he had come, kissing her shoulder, collar bone … Elena let her head fall back to give him better access and he continued along her throat to her other shoulder, where he repeated his earlier actions.

"I wonder if this will ever go away …" she mumbled, a little breathlessly.

"What do you mean?" he murmured against her skin.

"The way you can make me completely forget everything else," she explained. "Maybe, in a hundred years, this will all be old news and we'll get bored."

"Never," he vowed before recapturing her lips.

She returned the kiss animatedly, moving even closer to him so that their bodies were pressed together. The dancing all but forgotten, they stopped moving to the music in their need to be closer.

When Elena started fumbling with the buttons in his shirt, Damon reached behind her and pulled the zipper in her dress down. She finished unbuttoning his shirt, then let the dress slip down her body to land in a pool around her feet. He shrugged out of the shirt before wrapping his arms around her again, hungrily covering her lips with his. He unhooked her bra, but their bodies were too closely pressed together for that to make a difference: impatiently, he pulled the garment out of the way and finally their upper bodies were skin on skin.

Pulling away from him a little, she reached between them to undo the button in his jeans. "How about we move this somewhere more … comfortable?" she suggested, looking up at him through her eyelashes, desire evident in her eyes.

Without replying, he swung her up into his arms and strode off in the direction of the bedroom. "What about all the candles?" she objected half-heartedly.

"They'll make it an hour or two without burning the place down," he replied dismissively, pushing the bedroom door open and, quite unceremoniously, she thought, dropped her on the bed. As he did, a shower of something red flew up around her.

"Rose petals part of the romantic setting?" Elena asked, fingering one of the velvety, fake floral leafs.

Damon shrugged. "No idea, I just ordered the 'romantic package'," he told her. "Didn't ask for specifics."

"So, candles, rose petals … what else might be included?"

He scanned the room, eyes stopping on the small table by the window. "Yahtzee!" he exclaimed, going over to the table where there was a cooler with a bottle of champagne and a bowl of strawberries.

"Don't you mean 'bingo'?" Elena wondered amusedly.

"No. 'Bingo' is old, boring. Everyone says 'bingo'."

She rolled her eyes but then focused on the bottle he had picked up. "Mmm, champagne," she said appreciatively. "Nice."

He put the bowl with strawberries down on the bedside table and opened the champagne bottle with a 'pop'. "No glasses, though," he noted.

"We could use the ones in the bathroom," Elena suggested.

Damon stared at her in disbelief. "You want to drink _champagne_ out of _toothbrush glasses_?" he asked, sounding like she had just proposed they run down Times Square naked while having people throw eggs at them or something.

"Why not?" She didn't really see what the problem was: the glasses had been changed when the room was cleaned before they checked in, and they hadn't used them. "Or do you have a better suggestion?"

A smile slowly spread on his face as his eyes traveled down her almost naked body and back up. "Oh, I can think of at least _one_ better way of having champagne that doesn't include glasses at all."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "I don't really think that 'champagne' and 'body shots' go that well together," she said dryly.

"Why, have you tried it?"

"Well, no, but …"

"Then don't knock it till you have," he cut her off. He took a swig from the bottle. "This is good stuff. Do you want some?" He held up the bottle, a teasing expression on his face, and she realized what kind of game he was playing.

"Yes, please," she replied, not making any move to take the bottle from him.

With a smile, he knelt down on the edge of the bed, lowering the bottle to her lips. She opened her mouth and he poured some champagne into it.

"Mmm," she mumbled when she had swallowed, licking her lips slowly.

He put the bottle down on the bedside table. "You like?"

She just nodded.

"How about a strawberry?"

In response, she opened her mouth, waiting for him to feed one of the red berries to her. He picked one of them and she bit off a small piece, chewing slowly, savoring the taste. Some juice trickled down her chin, and he quickly caught it with his tongue before kissing her.

"I never really got the whole champagne being an aphrodisiac before," Elena noted when he pulled away from her. "I think I do now."

Damon laughed a little hoarsely. "Oh, we're just getting started." To demonstrate his point, he picked up the champagne bottle again but, instead of putting it to her lips, he lowered it over her chest.

"Don't get the bed messy!" she instructed him sternly, and he paused, bottle mid-air.

"It's a hotel," he told her dryly. "I'm sure they'll change the sheets if we ask _really _nicely. They might even clean the entire room, you never know. Miracles have been known to happen."

She ignored his sarcasm. "In the morning, yeah. But we'll still have to sleep on them tonight."

He sighed a little impatiently. "Are you _trying_ to ruin the moment?"

She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, letting go of my slightly neurotic nitpicking ways … at least for the moment."

He looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment. "Does that mean you're going to be quiet now?"

She smiled. "I guess that depends on what you're planning on doing to me …" she replied suggestively.

"I'll take that as a definite 'no', then."

She laughed, but then he poured some of the cold champagne onto her already slightly overheated skin, and she gasped a little.

"Just relax," he told her, leaning down over her to lick the liquid off her body. The feel of his tongue on her skin – which, in itself, always drove her a little crazy – was somehow heightened by the bubbly champagne. Elena's eyes slid shut and she relaxed against the pillows, surrendering all control to him. "See?" Damon mumbled against her neck before kissing the hollow by her collar bone. "Knew you'd like it."

"Uh-huh."

His lips found hers, and she wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him closer. He was still half-hovering above her though, the only part of their bodies touching being their mouths, and she wanted him closer. But, of course, he had his own ideas and when she tried to tug him down on top of her, he pulled away with a laugh. "Patience," he told her, kissing the tip of her nose once before again focusing his attention on her neck.

"You can be really mean sometimes, you know that?" she grumbled, but he only laughed again, running one hand down her side and making her shiver a little. "Just you wait until I'm almost as strong as you are: payback is going to be a bitch."

"I look forward to it." His mouth was right next to her ear and his voice barely more than a whisper, but it still made her heart rate pick up a little in anticipation.

Then she felt something moist and slightly cold against her skin, right below her collar bone, and it took her a moment to realize that it was a strawberry, the one she had taken a bite from a moment ago. Before she had a chance to ask him what he was planning on doing with it, he trailed it down her chest, spreading the fruit juice on her breast. Then he licked the sticky liquid off, his tongue slowly circling in on her nipple before he finally pulled it into his mouth. Elena moaned, her back arching against him. Too soon, in her opinion, he pulled away from her, luckily only to repeat the action on her other breast. By the time he abandoned her chest for real and kissed his way back up her neck to her lips, she was breathing hard.

"Well, I'll never be able to look at strawberries the same way again," she noted breathlessly, and Damon laughed.

"Want another one?"

She nodded, leaning up on one elbow to take a bite. This time, he popped the rest of the strawberry into his own mouth. After a moment, he kissed her, the taste of strawberry intensifying. As their tongues battled, Elena reached out to pull the zipper down in his jeans – she hadn't gotten further than undoing the button earlier, and she didn't want to be the passive one anymore. When she had succeeded, she pushed his jeans down a little, pulling away from him.

"My turn," she told him with a smile, moving over on the bed so that he could lie down next to her. He pulled his jeans the rest of the way off before half-leaning against the headboard and, in the meantime, she got rid of her own panties. No more obstacles.

She could tell that there was absolutely no need for what she was planning, but still wanted to give it a try, so she moved so that she was straddling his thighs before reaching for the champagne bottle.

"I'm already all sticky, don't think you're getting out of it." She poured some champagne on his chest, careful not to overdo it. Since he wasn't flat on his back, the liquid continued down his chest to his stomach.

"Good thing the shower's big enough for both of us," he noted.

"Very good thing," she agreed, leaning down and kissing him once before moving to his chest, following the champagne trail down his body.

"Isn't this much better than using old toothbrush glasses?" he noted, voice slightly constricted.

She lifted her head to look at him and nodded. "Much better."

Raising the champagne bottle to her lips, she took a long drink, feeling the bubbles slide down her throat. Damon held out his hand for the bottle, and she gave it to him. While he took a couple of gulps, she moved a little on top of him, pushing his legs apart and kneeling between them. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What're you up to?"

Elena smiled. "You'll see." She reached for the bottle again and took a mouthful of champagne. Then, eyes intent on his, she leaned down and took him into her mouth. The sparkling liquid swirled around him, and she experimentally pulled him deeper into her mouth.

"God!" he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut, hands balling into fists around the coverlet.

Liking his reaction, she started a slow motion, up and down, up and down. His incoherent mutterings and the way his hips rose up from the bed to meet her movement told her he was enjoying what she was doing to him, and she let the tip of her tongue slide along his length.

He usually didn't want her to … seal the deal with her mouth and would stop her after a while. He had explained that he wanted them to be together, _really_ together, in every meaning of the word, when they came, and she kind of like that idea. It was romantic, somehow. But it seemed like he was about to make an exception, so she sped up a little, trying to show him that it was OK to just let go.

But, just when she was sure that he was right on the edge, he tried to pull out of her mouth. "No, no, wait," he gasped, obviously trying to regain some sort of control.

She swallowed down the champagne and released him. "Are you absolutely sure?" she asked, licking her lips.

"Yes." He tugged on her hand and she crawled up his body. "No matter how tempting it is, no matter how good it felt and, _God_, it felt good."

She laughed, happy with her little experiment, and stored it away for possible future use. She loved it when she, for once, managed to make him lose control like that. "OK, your loss." She let him pull her down for a kiss at the same time as she reached between them to guide him inside her. He groaned into her mouth, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her still for a moment. His other hand slid up her side and across her stomach, finally cupping her breast.

He pulled his lips away from hers. "You're all sticky."

She rolled her eyes. "I wonder why."

"I thought I did a pretty good job of cleaning up after myself, but apparently not." He flicked her nipple with his thumb, and she gasped.

"Feel free to give it another try," she told him breathlessly, and he laughed.

"Don't mind if I do." Releasing his grip on her waist, he pushed himself a little further up from the bed on one elbow, kissing her breast before letting his tongue dart out to taste her skin. "Mmm, strawberries."

When he found her nipple again and pulled it into his mouth, Elena's head fell back. Her fingers tangled in his hair, keeping him in place, and she started moving around him, slowly at first, then faster as the pleasure that had already been burning inside her blazed even more.

Apparently, Damon felt the same way, because only a few minutes later, he flipped them around on the bed, pushing into her harder.

"God, you drive me crazy, you know that?" he mumbled in her ear before kissing her, his lips demanding against hers.

Feeling her release on the horizon, Elena urged him on, kissing him back just as passionately and wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper into her.

He fell over the edge first and, almost as an afterthought – and she didn't blame him, really – found her most sensitive spot and, pushing down on it, pulled her along with him into sweet oblivion.

They both lay panting for a while, unable to speak or move. Then Damon pushed himself off Elena and rolled onto his back, collapsing against the pillows. "Remind me to stock up on champagne and strawberries when we get home. We're definitely doing _that _again."

* * *

A knock on the door woke Elena up the next morning. Sunshine was streaming into the room and she squinted against the bright light, localizing an alarm clock on the bedside table. Ten forty-five.

"Make it stop," Damon complained in a whiny voice next to her, pulling a pillow over his head.

"Yeah, yeah." She got out of bed and rummaged through her suitcase for a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants which she pulled on before venturing out into the hallway. When she opened the door, Jenna was just turning to leave, tugging an apparently unwilling Maddy by the hand.

"Ena!" the little girl exclaimed as soon as she saw Elena, a big smile spreading on her face.

"Oh, you _were_ in there," Jenna said. "I was starting to think that maybe you had gone down to have breakfast. Did I wake you? I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Elena assured her, running a hand through her hair, trying to get rid of the 'just got out of bed' do. "Come on in."

"We didn't make any plans for the morning, so Maddy and I had breakfast and then we went back to our room and watched some cartoons," Jenna said when Elena stepped aside to let them into the suite. "But then Little Miss Entertain Me got bored and wanted to come up here and see you guys, and it was almost eleven, so I figured you were probably up. Sorry. I tend to forget that not everyone have their very own alarm clock."

"It's fine, honestly. Did she wake you up early?" Elena wondered, leading the way into the living room. The discarded clothes from last night were still strewn across the room and, blushing a little, she snatched them up and went to put them away in the bedroom. Damon was still fast asleep, and she closed the bedroom door behind her. When she got back into the living room, Jenna was sitting on the couch with Maddy in her lap.

"We actually slept until ten minutes after eight, which is late for her." Jenna glanced around the room. "I take it you had a romantic evening last night?" she assumed, nodding at the candles.

Elena smiled a little at the memory. "We did, actually. Candles, music, rose petals on the bed, champagne, strawberries …"

"I think I know where you're going with this, and, please, no details," Jenna cut her off, raising her hand in a dismissive motion.

"I wasn't going to give you any," Elena retorted amusedly. No way was she discussing her sex life with Jenna. The age difference between them might not be that big, and Jenna was really cool as far as aunts went, but she was still a sort of parental authority. "It was nice, though. But it got a little late."

"Hence the not getting up until eleven today."

"Exactly."

"I take it Damon's not awake yet?" Jenna glanced in the direction of the bedroom.

"He tried to hide under a pillow when you knocked on the door, so no," Elena replied.

"Unca Dem!" Maddy exclaimed excitedly. "Up!"

"You want Uncle Damon to get up?" Elena asked, and Maddy nodded vigorously.

"Don't let her into the bedroom, she'll terrorize him until he won't have a choice but to get up," Jenna warned her. "She might be small, but her torture techniques are _extremely_ well developed."

Elena laughed, trying to imagine what that might look like.

"Did you say that you'd already had breakfast?" she then asked, feeling her stomach start to rumble.

Jenna nodded. "Yeah. And what a breakfast! That's the part of staying at a hotel I love the most."

Her cell phone was lying on the table in front of her, and Elena picked it up to check the time. Ten fifty. "They do serve breakfast until eleven thirty," she mused out loud. "But I don't really feel like going down into the restaurant, and sleepy in there is bound to want something when he gets up."

"Does he usually eat …" Jenna started, "… I mean _food_ in the morning?"

"Yeah." Elena nodded, grabbing the phone and the room service menu. "He says something about his blood sugar being low in the mornings. I don't know if that's true or not – I don't even know if he can _get_ low blood sugar, I mean, vampires can't actually get sick unless they somehow get vervain in their system – but he usually has breakfast with me."

"Vervain, that's the herb he gave me the other day, right?" Jenna wondered. "The one he told me that I could crush against his skin if …" She trailed off.

"Yeah, that's right."

"How would they get that in their system?"

"Well, they can smell it, of course, so you can't put it in a drink or food or something," Elena explained. "But if the person they drink from – _if_ they feed from humans, of course – has vervain in their blood, they usually can't tell before it's too late. And you can put vervain in a tranquilizer dart and shoot them."

"What's it like for them? Does it hurt?" Jenna seemed a little uncomfortable with the topic but, at the same time, curious.

"I think it does at first. Then it makes them really weak for a while." Elena remembered what Damon had been like after that woman, Isobel's research assistant, had shot him with the vervain dart. "Which is the whole point, of course. Shoot them with a dart so that you can stake them, otherwise you probably won't be able to get close enough to do it."

"You make it sound like there are people who do this, try to kill vampires, for a living or something," Jenna said incredulously.

"Maybe not for a living, but there are definitely vampire hunters or whatever they call themselves out there." Elena decided to leave out the small detail that Jenna's own husband used to be one. She actually would have thought that they'd talked about it by now, but maybe Jenna was still too mad at him to want to hear more about the 'secret' part of his life.

"I guess I just didn't think that many people knew about this," Jenna mused. "I mean, _I_ had no idea until you told me."

"I know. And I don't know how many people _do_ know, but there are definitely those who do."

Jenna nodded thoughtfully. Then she spotted the phone and menu in Elena's hands. "Sorry, you were going to order breakfast."

Elena called in her order, getting pancakes, toast, fruit, coffee and orange juice. It didn't take long for the food to get there, and she quickly finished off half the pancakes and toast and most of the fruit – Damon wasn't really a fruit person. When she was done, she looked at the time again: eleven thirty.

"OK, he's been asleep long enough," she concluded. "We're meeting Jeremy and Anna at one, so he has to get up anyway."

They had made plans to spend the day in Central Park and then go back to Anna and Jeremy's place for the movie and pizza night Elena had promised Jenna.

"OK." Jenna got up from the couch and reached out her hand for Maddy, who was standing with her little hands and nose pressed to the windows, watching the street far below them: she was fascinated by the tiny 'toys', which was what she called the cars. "Come on, Maddy, we're going back to our room. Do you want to meet down in the lobby, say at a quarter to one?"

"Hang on …" Elena thought for a moment, a smile spreading on her face as an idea formed in her mind. "Mind if I borrow your alarm clock?"

For a moment, Jenna looked completely perplexed. Then she smiled too, if a little more hesitantly. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked, sounding a little doubtful. "I mean, I do trust him around Maddy and all that, but if he's taken by surprise like that …"

"It'll be fine," Elena assured her before going over and picking up Maddy. "Do you want to wake Uncle Damon up?"

"Unca Dem up!" Maddy exclaimed, and Elena laughed.

"That's right, he has to get up. Come on."

Jenna followed her out of the living room and to the doorway to the bedroom. Before she opened the door all the way, Elena peeked into the room to make sure that Damon hadn't tossed the sheet off or something; she knew for a fact that he wasn't wearing anything underneath it, and she didn't think that the full Damon was something Jenna'd want to see. But the sheet was still in place, covering most of his body from view.

She pushed the door open quietly – knowing that, if he was awake, he'd hear them coming no matter how quiet they were – and tiptoed into the room. She sat down on her side of the bed and put Maddy down between herself and Damon's sleeping form.

"Unca Dem!" the little girl said demandingly. "Up!"

Damon muttered something incoherently from under the pillow but didn't move.

"Go wok!" Maddy exclaimed, and Elena assumed that she was trying to say 'you have to go to work'. Maybe she had heard Jenna waking Alaric up with those words.

When there was no reaction, Maddy started pounding her little fists against Damon's back. "Up!" she repeated. "Up! Up! Up!"

The pillow moved a little and Damon's face, slightly annoyed, became visible. "I'll get you for this," he promised Elena, who just smiled.

"Up, Unca Dem, up!" Maddy clapped her hands, happy to have succeeded in her task of waking him up.

"Oh, you think so, do you?" Damon tossed the pillow to the side and grabbed Maddy, lifting her into the air, up-side down. "You little monster!"

The little monster only shrieked with laughter.

* * *

**AN: Well, that's it for now – some smut and a little family interaction. I hope I'll 'see' you guys soon again and, in the meantime, let me know what you thought about the chapter, about what's to come or just about the story in general!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Hey, guys, I'm back! Thanks so much for all the well-wishes in the reviews of the last chapter, they really warmed my heart. The surgery went well, and now I can see – without glasses or contacts! Only those who need glasses can really understand the feeling when you wake up in the morning and can see the numbers on the alarm clock without having to put your glasses on. My eyesight isn't a hundred percent just yet, but it's getting there, and my eyes are still very dry and get tired easily, which is why I haven't been able to update until now. I can't spend hours in front of the computer yet, so I probably won't be able to get back to my regular updates for a while, but I hope you can be patient with me. I will still post, if not as often as before. OK, that's it, let's get on with the story – I think you've waited for this update long enough! A little family fun in The Big Apple, some heart-to-heart and the return of a familiar face, as well as the introduction of a new one … Oh, and lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter fourteen**

After meeting Jeremy and Anna and having quick lunch – or, in Damon's case, breakfast – at what was, according to Anna, 'the best Thai restaurant in New York City', they all continued to Central Park and one of the playgrounds.

It was a beautiful day: the sun was shining from a cloudless sky, there was a mild breeze to keep it from getting too hot, and the birds were singing. As soon as Jenna had lifted Maddy out of her carriage, the little girl tugged on Elena's hand, pointing at the swings. "Up, Ena, up!" she ordered, sounding as demanding as only a one-year-old can.

Elena laughed. "I guess I'd better do as she says," she concluded, letting Maddy pull her along to the swing set.

Damon watched them for a moment, then turned to scan the area. There was an ice cream stand a little ways away. "Anyone in the mood for ice cream?" he asked Jenna, Jeremy and Anna. "There's always room for dessert, right?"

"That sounds great," Jenna replied. "But you're already paying for the hotel and Anna refused to let me chip in for lunch, so _I _will buy us ice cream."

He raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "OK, OK, if you insist."

"I'll give you a hand, Aunt Jenna," Jeremy offered, and the two left for the ice cream stand. As they crossed the playground, Jeremy put an arm around Jenna's shoulders and she wrapped hers around his waist.

Anna watched them with a smile on her face. "This is going pretty well," she noted when they were – at least in Jenna's case – out of earshot. "Jeremy was worried that she might not want to be too close to him which, you know, wouldn't have been that strange."

"She _is_ doing really well," Damon replied, nodding. "I mean, she did freak out for a moment right after we told her and yelled at me to get out of her house, but, in all fairness, I _did_ pull my vamp-face on her. And I'm sure it could have been a _lot_ worse. I was half-expecting her go to all Buffy and throw crosses and garlic at me or something."

Anna laughed. "Yeah, Jeremy told me that she didn't believe you and you decided to actually _show_ her. Not the brightest idea you've ever had, if you ask me."

"Good thing I wasn't."

They were silent for a moment.

"So Elena's decided to go through with it too?" Anna then asked, voice a little hushed, as if afraid that Jenna would still be able to hear her from across the playground.

Damon nodded, tearing his eyes from Jenna and Jeremy to watch Elena and Maddy. Elena was pushing the little girl on the swing and tickling her for a moment every time the swing came towards her. He could see Maddy's little face alight with a big smile. "Yeah."

"You must be happy about that."

"Of course." He frowned, contradicting his words.

"But …?" Anna pushed, sensing that there was something bothering him.

"I just …" He paused. "What was it like, for you I mean?"

"Having Jeremy turn? Great. That means he wants to be with me forever which, you know, us girls are always happy to hear."

He shook his head. "No, not that part. That part I get, that part I _want_. But … I mean, to become a vampire, he had to actually _die_. What was that like?"

"Oh." Anna suddenly understood his hesitation.

"I mean, I know that she won't actually be _gone_, but, for a little while, she sort of will be. I just don't know if I can do that, _kill_ her, even if it's not for real and I know she'll come back more or less right away."

Anna followed his gaze to Elena and Maddy. "I get what you mean," she told him, sounding more understanding and less … condescending than he had expected. "And it was … I don't know, I try not to think about that part too much, to be honest. But it definitely wasn't easy."

Damon gave her a look. "Thank you, now I feel _much_ better," he said sarcastically. "Quite the pep talk you got going, have you ever considered going into motivational speaking?"

She rolled her eyes. "What do you want me to say? Do you want me to lie and tell you that it was no big deal? OK, it wasn't a big deal. Better?"

"Oh, absolutely!" He huffed.

"Look, if you can't do it … I mean, _you_ don't have to be the one to do the actual killing, you know. She just has to die with your blood in her system, that's it."

Damon nodded thoughtfully. "I guess you're right."

"I know that Jeremy wants to be there, help Elena after, with adjusting and all that," Anna continued. "And if you want me to, I can do it. I even promise to only tease you about being a big wuss for, say, the next century or so."

He raised his eyebrows at her last comment. "Thank you _so_ much."

"Seriously, though. You just have to ask."

He scrutinized her for a long moment, trying to figure out if she was serious or just messing with him. The look in her eyes was sincere, though, so after a while he looked away from her and nodded. "Thanks." Not that he was going to take her up on her offer: he was pretty sure Elena wouldn't want Jeremy around for that particular moment. But there were other options …

* * *

Elena was relieved to find that Jenna seemed to be getting more and more comfortable around Jeremy, Anna and Damon as the days went by. By Thursday morning, when it was time to leave New York, it almost seemed like things were just like they used to be, before everything got so crazy. She liked that thought.

"I have a suggestion," she said to Jenna when they were having breakfast at the hotel before checking out. "Jeremy and Anna are driving down to Durham today too, and I would like to stop in Charlottesville to see Bonnie, so why don't you go and Maddy back with them? If that's OK, I mean."

"That sounds good," Jenna agreed, nodding. "Maybe they would like to stay at the house and drive down to Durham with us on Saturday morning? Or have they made reservations at a hotel down there?"

"I actually don't know," Elena replied. "But why don't you ask them?"

Since nobody minded the change of plans, Damon and Elena left the hotel as soon as they had finished their breakfast while Jenna and Maddy waited for Jeremy and Anna to get there.

"So, getting the daylight ring thing – involuntary rhyme there, sorry about that – out of the way before you actually need it?" Damon concluded as they were driving down the highway.

"Yeah," Elena confirmed. "I figure why wait, you know? Besides, I want to talk to Bonnie about this before we do it."

He nodded. "Probably a good idea." He glanced over at her. "Are you worried that she'll have changed her mind and try to talk you out of it?"

She gave him a curious look. "How did you know that she's OK with it?"

"We talked about it," he replied, shrugging. "Back when Jeremy pulled a Houdini. But that was a while ago, so you never know."

"Oh." She thought for a moment. "No, I'm not worried that she'll have changed her mind. She knows that this is what I want, and that it's important to me, I know she'll be supportive."

"Never thought I'd see the day when Sabrina went pro-vampire," Damon mused out loud. "I mean, I still remember – vividly and, might I add, painfully – when she pulled her little mind trick on me."

"She did have her reasons, though," Elena reminded him. "But you have come a long way since then."

"Yeah. She no longer tries to make my head explode, and I haven't even _thought_ about trying to kill her for _years_."

She laughed. "Right, the sign of true friendship is not wanting to kill each other."

"What, it's not?" He gave her an incredulous look and she raised her eyebrows at him. "Relax, just kidding."

"Funny."

"So, do you have something for her to spell?" he asked, changing the subject.

She shook her head. "Actually, no. I hadn't exactly planned this before we left Durham. But maybe we can stop somewhere along the way, or in Charlottesville?"

"We could." He nodded. "Or … it doesn't have to be a _new_ piece of jewelry, you know."

"It doesn't?" Now that she said it, she thought it sounded a little stupid. Why would it have to be something new?

"Nope. So maybe …" he reached for her left hand and ran his thumb along her ring finger, "… you could use this?"

Elena looked down at the engagement ring and smiled. "You think I need _another_ reason to never take this off?"

Damon shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."

She laughed. "I actually kind of like that idea. Not that I'll ever _want_ to take it off anyway, but still. It'll be kind of symbolic. But doesn't a daylight protection have to something with lapis lazuli in it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it does, but I ... might have thought about that when I got the ring."

Curiosly, Elena scrutinized the ring on her finger. The only gem she could see was the heart shaped diamond. "What do you mean?"

"I had the band itself re-cast, with several small pieces of lapis lazuli embedded in the white gold." He shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal at all. "I thought about getting a ring with an actual lapis lazuli stone _in_ it, but the only ones I could find were big, clumsy things like mine. Plus, I thought you might be one of those traditional girls who'd want a diamond in her ring, so ..."

"It wouldn't have mattered what kind of stone was in the ring, I still would have loved it," she told him. "But I'm glad you thought about this, and I really do want to use it as my daylight ring."

"Great. Saves us a trip to the jewelry store." He tried to make it sound like it was no big deal, but Elena could tell that it meant a lot to him that she wanted to use her engagement ring as her daylight protection.

"I should probably call Bonnie, make sure she's actually _in_ Charlottesville," she said, realizing that Bonnie might have gone back to Mystic Falls until her graduation ceremony, which was also on Saturday. They hadn't talked in almost a week, and the witch hadn't said anything about that during their last conversation, but you never knew.

Bonnie picked up her cell after a couple of rings. _"Hello … stop it!"_

Elena frowned. "Stop what?"

"_Sorry, not you. Hang on for a moment." _The line went silent, as if Bonnie had covered the mouthpiece with her hand, for a moment. Then she came back. _"Hey, what's up? How did the trip go?"_

Elena thought she heard a male voice in the background and then a door closing. "Fine, but let's focus on you for a moment. Who're you with? You know you're supposed to keep me updated on stuff like this, it's one of the most important BFF rules."

"_Nobody,"_ Bonnie quickly replied. _"Just … Scott."_

"Scott?" Elena repeated. "I didn't know you two were talking again."

Bonnie had dated a few different guys during college, none of them for very long – until she met Scott two years ago. He was a year older than them and was studying Art History and, after only a couple of dates, Bonnie had been completely into him in a way Elena had never really seen before. They dated for a little over a year, then he graduated and got an amazing job offer at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles that he just couldn't turn down. They had tried the long distance thing for a couple of months but, in October, they had agreed that it wasn't working and had broken up. Bonnie had been pretty torn up about it and had decided not to stay in touch with Scott, since it would be too hard.

"_We weren't, not really,"_ Bonnie now replied. _"He was waiting outside my dorm when I got home after my last final on Friday, and … I don't know. We started talking and …"_

"Didn't stop for a week?" Elena interrupted. She was happy for her friend – if this was something more than just a week's vacation for Scott. She remembered how hard Bonnie had taken the break-up last fall and didn't want her best friend to have to go through that again.

Bonnie laughed. _"Something like that. He's moving back to the east coast, he got a job at the Smithsonian in Washington. He says that he's been trying to get a job back here ever since he got to LA, but that nothing's opened up until now."_

"So that's good, right? I mean, even if you're going back to Mystic Falls after graduation, DC's only a three hour drive away, that's much better than California. If you want to start seeing him again, that is."

The line was silent for a moment. _"I think I do,"_ Bonnie then said. _"I mean, I know things didn't exactly work out last time, but there were circumstances."_

"Absolutely," Elena agreed. She had secretly been hoping that Bonnie and Scott would give it another go: she had never seen her friend happier than she had been while they were together and, since the break-up, it had been hard to get her to smile. She had been pretty sure Bonnie hadn't really moved on, and this confirmed her suspicions. "You know I've always liked Scott, he's a great guy."

"_Yeah …"_ Bonnie sounded a little distracted.

"Anyway, the reason I called is that Damon and I are on our way back from New York, and I thought we could stop by your place for a little while. I just wanted to check that you hadn't gone to your parents' or something."

"_No, I'm at school. Come on by, I don't have any plans for the afternoon."_

"Except for making up with Scott," Elena noted. "Or making _out_. If it's a bad time, just put a sock on your door or something, and we'll come back later."

"_I wasn't planning on jumping into anything quite that quickly,"_ Bonnie replied dryly.

"Still. You never know."

"_And on that note, I will see you later. When do you think you'll get here?"_

"Well, we left the city at nine thirty, so maybe around five? We're stopping for lunch soon."

"_Great. See you then."_

"Bye."

"I take it Scott's back in the picture?" Damon assumed when she had hung up the phone, not sounding overly happy about that.

"If he's there, be nice to him," Elena instructed sternly. Damon could be very … uncivil, was one way of putting it, to people he wasn't happy with. And she knew that hurting Bonnie would have put Scott very far down on Damon's 'people I like' list. "Bonnie doesn't need you being all threatening to him."

"As long as his intentions are good," he replied.

"Intentions?" she questioned with a laugh. "Sometimes you really _do_ sound like you're from the nineteenth century."

He gave her a menacing look, but she only laughed more. That look had stopped having any effect on her a long time ago.

* * *

There was no sock on Bonnie's door when they got there, but Elena still knocked.

"Come on in!"

Elena opened the door and they went into the room, discovering Bonnie and Scott in the middle of a dozen or so moving boxes.

"Hey!" Bonnie exclaimed when she saw them.

"Aren't you a little sure of yourself?" Damon asked, eyeing the boxes. "I mean, you haven't gotten the results of your finals yet, right? What if you fail and have to stick around for another year? Wouldn't it be a little unnecessary, not to mention embarrassing, to have to unpack all this again?"

Bonnie just stuck her tongue out at him. "So, any particular reason you decided to drop by? Not that I mind."

"Actually …" Elena started, glancing at Scott. "I thought maybe we could have some … girl talk?" She wasn't sure what to say so that Bonnie would get the picture with Scott in the room. As far as she knew, he had no idea his former – current? future? – girlfriend was a witch, and he definitely didn't know that Damon was a vampire.

Bonnie seemed to pick up on her meaning. "Sure. Maybe the guys could go get some dinner? There's a great Chinese place over in Belmont, but they don't deliver."

"We'll take care of it, don't worry," Damon assured her. "Won't we, Scott?"

The look he gave the other guy was a little on the evil side, and Scott swallowed hard. "Uh, yeah, absolutely. We'll be back soon."

Damon opened the door, waiting for Scott to pass him. "I'll drive."

Elena bit her lip, watching the door for a moment after they were gone. "Not sure _that's_ gonna end well," she then said, turning to Bonnie.

To her surprise, Bonnie just laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much, Damon's more or less harmless these days," she said, gesturing to Elena to sit down on her bed. "And if he decided to give Scott a little scare … maybe I wouldn't be _too_ upset."

Elena maneuvered around the boxes in the room and sat down next to her friend. "I think you've been around Damon too much, he's rubbed off on you."

"Well, it _was_ bound to happen sooner or later." Bonnie turned to Elena, giving her a scrutinizing look. "So, what's up? Though I'm not sure I need to ask."

Elena nodded a little, looking down at the bed and twirling her engagement ring around her finger. "I thought you might have figured it out."

"And you're absolutely positive? I mean, I'm not going to try to talk you out of going through with it or anything but I have to make sure you've thought about everything this will mean."

Elena looked up at her best friend, smiling a little. "I have. Over and over and over again for … I don't know, the last three years at least. And since Jeremy … I was a little, maybe not hesitant, but worried, before he changed. I mean, I really didn't have any idea what it would mean for me, emotionally and all that. But he's the same person he's always been, and that's made me understand that it doesn't have to change me. Well, other than in the obvious way, I mean. Which is the whole point, you know."

"Eternal youth," Bonnie mused. "I have to admit, I kinda like that idea."

Elena laughed. "I know, big plus."

"But you do realize you'll have to be around _Damon_ forever, right? I mean, he can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, you sure you're ready for that for all eternity?" The look in Bonnie's eyes told Elena she was joking, and she stuck her tongue out at her best friend.

"I think I _might_ be able to put up with him if I get to stay young and pretty forever."

"Well, as long as you have your priorities straight."

They laughed for a moment.

"Seriously, though," Bonnie then said. "You know I'm here for you and I'll be supportive and all that but … this is a big deal, it's not something you can take back once it's done, and there are so many things you need to think about before you do it. I get why you want this, but have you really thought about everything it'll mean for your future?"

"I get to be with the guy I love forever, and not just the 'normal' forever but _really_ forever," Elena replied with a smile. "But I know what you mean, and I know I will be giving up things, that there are some things I'll never be able to do … but I'm OK with that. I mean, life's all about compromises, right?"

"Right," Bonnie agreed, though not sounding completely convinced. "But … OK, I'm going to give you the speech you probably would have given Jeremy if he had told you what he was planning and not just disappeared. Is it really necessary to do this _now_? I mean, it's not like Damon's going anywhere, you know he'll wait however long you want, so what's a few more years? You're just twenty-two, there are … things you probably haven't thought much about that you might want in a couple of years."

Elena's eyes narrowed. "Did Damon put you up to this? I thought we went through all this the other day, but …"

"What?" Bonnie asked confusedly. "No, Damon hasn't said anything about this to me. Why?"

"It's just … OK, we did the whole 'are you sure' thing back when I told him this was what I wanted," Elena started, "and I told him I had thought about it and that I was positive, and he didn't push it, he just said that he was way too selfish to try to talk me out of it." She smiled at the memory. If only he knew how far he had come from being that selfish person …

"Sounds like Damon," Bonnie noted with a half-smile.

"Yeah. But then, the other week, after we had told Jenna everything, he brought up the whole kids thing."

Bonnie just nodded, indicating that she was listening. She was a little surprised that Damon would think about that, actually, but maybe it wasn't that far out there. She knew that all he ever wanted these days was for Elena to be happy, and he wouldn't want to take something like that away from her, not if it was something she wanted.

"It was a little funny, actually," Elena continued. "I mean, it was like he didn't think I had even thought about it, which I have. Many times, especially since Maddy was born …"

"Do I detect a hint of sadness?" Bonnie wondered.

Elena shrugged. "Maybe. And I know that, had my life taken a different path, I probably would have had kids at some point. But I'm going to tell you what I told him: it's never been my main goal in life to be a mom. You of all people should know that, don't you remember when we were kids? You and Caroline had named your future children by the time we were ten, but I never really got that."

Bonnie laughed at the memory. "I remember. And Caroline bugged you until you just blurted out the first name that came to mind."

"Jemima, because we were having pancakes and the syrup was standing right in front of me." Elena laughed too.

"And Caroline went on about what an awful name that was and how you should name your kids something like Suellen or Careen, but not Scarlett, because that was _her_ name and you couldn't have it!"

"Right, she was going through her _Gone with the Wind_ phase," Elena remembered.

"I haven't thought about that for _years_," Bonnie said, letting out a sigh.

"Getting a little sentimental?" Elena teased.

"Maybe a little," Bonnie allowed. "Things were so simple back then. And now … I mean, graduation is Saturday, and then we're just thrown out into the real world and I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

Elena took her hand. "You are. You're going to do great. You're going to get an amazing job and you and Scott are going to get back together and live happily ever after and have a dozen beautiful kids."

Bonnie raised her eyebrows at that. "A dozen, huh? Not so sure about _that_."

"Two, then, is that better?"

"Much better. So you've really thought about this?"

Elena nodded. "I _really_ have. I know I'll never have kids of my own, and that's really OK. I'm counting on Jenna and Alaric having a bunch more, and you and Caroline, maybe even Alison, though I don't think kids are high on her 'to do' list right now. I'll be everyone's favorite aunt and spoil the kids rotten every time I come to visit."

Bonnie laughed. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

**AN: OK, so the daylight-thing is out of the way. Did I do OK with Bonnie's reaction? Since I had her show her support of Elena already back in _Something_, I didn't want to have her backtrack on that and try to talk Elena out of it, but I thought she'd still want to make sure that she was absolutely sure and had thought about everything. And Damon's talk with Anna, was that believable? I mean, I know he's supposed to be bad-ass and all that, but I don't think that even the Damon from the show would be able to turn Elena, just like that, and 'my' Damon definitely wouldn't. Let me know what you thought …**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Sorry about not updating earlier, guys. Like I said last time, my eyes aren't completely back to normal yet, so it takes a little longer than usual. Plus, I'm working on my master's thesis, so that takes up (or should take up) a lot of time. I promise to keep posting though, and hope that the possibly long waits between chapters won't make you stop reading. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, it's nice to know you're still with me. I'm glad you seemed to like the conversation between Damon and Anna, and that you didn't think it was unrealistic or something! There will, of course, be a follow up on that later in the story … but, for now, we're going to stay with Bonnie and Scott for a bit, get the big-brother-y Damon back in the story, I hope you'll like it! And remember the new face I mentioned a while ago? Well, time for a new ****acquaintance ** … 

**Thanks to my beta, sunshine2006578, for her help with the chapter! And now, let's get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter fifteen **

To say that Scott was uncomfortable during the drive to the Chinese restaurant would have been an enormous understatement. Of course, Damon didn't do anything to make him more at ease, either. In fact, he enjoyed watching the other guy squirm in the passenger seat. He deserved it. The few times that Scott seemed to be about to say something to ease the tension in the car, Damon shot him a look that made him stay quiet.

Unfortunately, the guy was nothing if not persistent. When they had gotten to the restaurant and were crossing the parking lot, he gathered up his courage yet again and, this time, managed to get out, "So, long time no see. How're things?"

Damon shot him an incredulous look. "Are you _serious_?"

Scott shrugged. "Just trying to make a little small talk, man. We used to be … OK, _friends_ may be too strong a word, but we got along pretty well, don't you think?"

"First of all, don't. And second of all, that was before you decided it was OK to take advantage of Bonnie and then leave her high and dry." Damon fastened his eye on Scott. "She might have decided to let you back into her life just because you showed up on her doorstep and played the sorry-card, but I'm not the forgive and forget type. You hurt one of my friends, so it's gonna take a _hell_ of a lot to get back on my good side. Not that you were ever on it to begin with."

That shut Scott up, and he didn't say anything else while they picked up the food and drove back to the campus. Meanwhile, Damon pondered the best way to get the other guy to realize that hurting Bonnie again was not an option. At least not if he wanted to get out of it with all his limbs intact and functioning. He thought about doing a repeat of the Evan scenario back at the Lockwood's Thanksgiving ball, but didn't think that would go over very well with Bonnie, or Elena, for that matter. Which only left scaring the guy a little … and he was _very_ good at that.

"So, Scotty," he started when he had parked in front of Bonnie's dorm again. "You're the one who wanted to do the 'buddy bonding' thing. What've you been up to?" He clicked the button to lock the doors so that Scott wouldn't be able to get out of the car: they were going to have a little talk, partly because he knew Elena and Bonnie would need some time and partly because he wanted to make sure Scott understood that he was on probation and that his every move was going to be monitored closely. If he so much as put one toe out of line, he'd be sorry he hadn't stayed in LA.

Scott glanced at the locked passenger door and got a slightly worried look on his face. "Mostly working," he replied, obviously coming to the conclusion that it was best just to go along with whatever it was Damon was doing. "I didn't know anyone in LA when I got there and I wasn't really interested in making friends, so I've been working way too much. And trying to get another job back here."

"You didn't think about, oh, I don't know, _calling_ Bonnie every now and then?" Damon couldn't control the hint of anger in his voice: he had seen how miserable Bonnie had been after Scott had left. "Last time I checked, they had phones in California too."

Scott's eyes widened. "But that was _her_ choice," he said. "When we decided that things weren't working, that the long-distance relationship wasn't what we wanted, _she_ was the one who said that it was probably best if we didn't talk for a while. I wanted to stay in touch, but since she said that she didn't, I just …"

Damon frowned. He had been sure Scott was the bad guy here. Elena hadn't really told him much about Bonnie and Scott's break-up, just that the long-distance relationship hadn't worked for them, and he hadn't wanted to ask Bonnie about it, since she had been pretty upset. "OK, let's say that I buy that. What are you doing back here? If you're just going to hurt her again, you might as well keep walking."

"No! I never wanted to hurt her in the first place. I loved her. I _love_ her, I still do. I just want to try to make things right, no matter what it takes. I don't know if she'll even consider getting back together with me, but I have to at least _try_."

Damon considered this for a moment. He could compel the other guy, make sure he was telling the truth, but he was pretty sure he didn't need to. Scott sounded sincere, and the look in his eyes only corroborated his words.

"Great, you get on that," he said with a quick smirk. "Just know that, if you hurt her again, _I_ am going to hurt _you_. And I'm not talking about emotional pain."

Scott's eyes widened even more and Damon could hear his heart rate pick up a little. Good. Fear was a powerful incentive.

* * *

Back in Bonnie's dorm room, Elena glanced at her clock and realized that Damon and Scott had been gone over half an hour. Even with traffic, they should be back soon.

"There was a practical reason we stopped by too," she told Bonnie. "I'm gonna need one of those daylight protection rings soon, and I wanted to get that out of the way before I actually have to."

"OK." Bonnie nodded immediately. "I should probably do the spell before the guys get back, though, not sure how I would explain _that_ to Scott. What do you have for me to spell?"

"This." Elena took off her engagement ring, for the first time since Damon had slipped it onto her finger and, hopefully, for the last time.

"Aw, that's romantic," Bonnie noted, taking the ring from Elena. "But this is a diamond, right? It needs to be lapis lazuli for the spell to work."

"There are pieces of lapis lazuli imbedded in the gold," Elena explained. "Damon had that done when he got the ring, apparently. He was probably hoping I'd want to use it for this very purpose."

"Aw, that's romantic." Bonnie moved so that she was sitting cross legged on the bed. "And, also, practical. We're ready to go."

"You don't need Emily's grimoire?" Elena wondered, glancing at the bookcase, which was empty except for the old, leather-bound book.

"Nah." Bonnie shook her head. "I've got it." She put the ring down on the coverlet in front of her and held her hands over it, closing her eyes.

Elena watched in silence, knowing what to expect this time – pretty much nothing. After a moment, Bonnie opened her eyes and picked up the ring, handing it back to Elena.

"There you go," she said. "Though you can't really try it out yet, and I'm guessing Damon won't be too eager to either."

Elena laughed as she put the ring back on. "Probably not," she agreed.

The metal felt cool against her skin, cooler, she thought, than it had before Bonnie performed the spell. But it was hard to tell: maybe she was just imagining things because she _expected_ something to be different. She trusted Bonnie, though, and knew that the ring would work like a charm – no pun intended – when she did need it.

Their timing couldn't have been better: within a couple of minutes, there was a knock on the door and Damon and Scott appeared with the food.

"Took you long enough," Bonnie noted, grabbing one of the bags Scott was carrying.

"Yeah, we …" Scott started, glancing at Damon. "There were a lot of people at the restaurant. Seems like everyone wanted Chinese food today."

Elena gave Damon a scrutinizing look, but he just shot her a smile back. "Spring roll?"

She took the food and made a mental note to ask him what had happened during the food-run when they were in the car later.

* * *

It was after seven by the time they left Charlottesville, and Elena leaned her head against the seat. It had been a long day, being on the road for hours on end.

"Tired?" Damon asked next to her.

"A little," she replied, moving so that she could lean her head against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her.

"It's been a couple of busy days," he noted. "Did you and Sabrina get everything done?"

"Yeah." She held up her left hand and watched the engagement ring for a moment, the diamond sparkling in the still bright sunlight. "I can't really know for sure that it works yet, but I trust Bonnie."

"I can try it out tomorrow, make sure," he told her. "Just don't tell anyone."

She laughed. "Can I take a picture? I might need some blackmail material in the next couple of hundred years."

"Blackmail?" he repeated in a mock-disapproving voice. "I've been a bad influence on you."

"Yes, you've corrupted me. I was just an innocent little girl before you came along." She turned her head to kiss his neck.

"Not _quite_ that innocent, if I remember correctly," Damon objected.

"Maybe not," Elena agreed. "So what did you do to Scott before? He looked like he had seen a ghost, or a vampire, when you got back with the food."

"Why would you think I _did_ something to him?" he replied innocently, eyes focused on the road. "I'm all domesticated these days, remember? I would _never_ do _anything_ to intimidate poor Scott."

"Right …"

He sighed. "Fine, so maybe I _talked_ to the guy a little," he admitted. "I mean, I had to make sure he wasn't about to just up and leave again. Bonnie took it really hard when he left last time, I'm not interested in a repeat of that if there's a way to avoid it. And, while we're on the subject, _you_ could have mentioned that _she_ was the one who didn't want to stay in touch with _him_."

"Sorry," she apologized half-heartedly. "So you pretty much told him not to hurt Bonnie again, or what?"

"Yeah." His voice turned defensive. "Is that a problem?"

Elena smiled a little. "No, I'm glad you did, actually. And it's kinda cute, the whole big brotherly thing you've got going on with Bonnie."

Damon huffed. "Yeah, well, Sabrina's like the annoying little sister I'm glad I never had."

Elena knew that he didn't really mean it. Well, not the 'annoying' part, anyway. He and Bonnie were pretty much like brother and sister these days, though, including the bickering.

"When's Stefan getting in tomorrow?" she asked, changing the subject.

Damon thought for a moment. "I _think_ he said five thirty, but I'm not sure. I have the flight info on my e-mail, I'll check it when we get home. But he said he'd take a cab from the airport."

"OK." She nodded. "But he doesn't have to do that, we can pick him up, right?"

He sighed. "Do we have to? He's a big boy, I'm sure he can get from the airport to the hotel all by himself. He knows not to talk to strangers, and if he gets lost, I'm pretty sure he'll be able to use that great invention called a cell phone to call us."

"Come on, Damon," Elena coaxed, ignoring his sarcasm.

"Fine," he agreed, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of my annoying do-gooder of a brother … he's actually staying a little longer than we talked about."

Elena looked a little confused. "Why?"

"I thought you might want some extra support after the big day," Damon replied, and she knew that he wasn't talking about her graduation. "I mean, I know you're ready and all that, but no matter how much you think you've prepared yourself, it's still going to be a big adjustment. So I've called in VU to be your support group."

"What's VU?"

"Vampires Unanonymous," he told her in a duh-voice. "You know, since we're not anonymous, we can't be VA."

She couldn't help but laugh. "I think I'll be fine. And I don't actually think 'unanonymous' is a word."

"Well, I just made it up. And sure you'll be fine," he agreed. "But can you just go along with it? He … wants to be here."

That surprised Elena. "Really?"

"Yeah. What did you think, that he'd shun you like the plague after you'd turned?"

"Honestly? Yeah, maybe." She had intentionally not mentioned their plans to Stefan when she'd talked to him lately, not sure how he would take her decision. "So you've told him?"

Damon glanced at her. "Yeah. Wasn't I suppose to? He might be a few beers short of a six pack, but I think he _might_ start suspecting something when you still look twenty-two in a hundred years or so."

She rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be mean. And I just haven't said anything because I wasn't sure how he'd take it. I guess I've always thought that he was opposed to the idea of me becoming a vampire since …" She cut herself off, looking down at her hands.

"Since he never brought it up when you two were together?" Damon finished the sentence in a knowing voice.

Elena nodded, brow furrowed. "But he'll find out eventually, like you said, so it was probably better that you told him."

"He didn't freak out, you don't have to worry about him coming down on you or anything," he assured her.

"Good." She sounded relieved. "But he hasn't mentioned it when I've talked to him."

"Maybe he was waiting for _you_ to bring it up?" Damon suggested.

"Maybe. Maybe I should have talked to him about it." She got a regretful look on her face. "I should have been the one to tell him."

"No, no. Don't go all guilt trip," he told her immediately. "This isn't about him, it's about you. And if you don't want him to be here, I'll tell him that. And don't worry, I'll do my very best to not hurt his feelings."

"No! I mean … maybe it'll be good, easier, having more support. Maybe Jeremy and Anna could stay too? Vampires Unanonymous, right?"

"If you want them there, sure," he agreed. "But I'm still your sponsor, right?"

She laughed. "Always."

"Good." He was silent for a moment. "Maybe we should come up with a twelve-step program …"

"OK, enough with the AA references!"

* * *

"Of course the flight has to be delayed," Damon grumbled at the airport the next day, scowling at the board announcing the flights that were coming into Raleigh-Durham International.

Elena shot him a look. "It's five minutes," she pointed out dryly. "And the flight's already landed, I'm sure he'll be out in a minute."

"Yeah, yeah. I would just like to point out that this was _your_ idea," he replied. "I was all for letting him take a cab, but you wanted to be all _welcoming_ and _pick him up_."

"Did someone wake up on the wrong side this morning?" she asked amusedly.

"I don't like waiting."

She rolled her eyes. "I never would have guessed."

Luckily, people started pouring out into the waiting hall at that moment, stopping him from complaining even more. Soon, Elena spotted Stefan and started waving. His eyes widened when he saw her and Damon waiting for him, and then he waved back hesitantly before glancing over his shoulder.

"What do you know, I think you were right," Damon muttered next to her, and Elena gave him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?"

In response, he nodded at a blonde in her late teens or early twenties who had just joined Stefan. "Looks like baby brother finally got a girlfriend."

Elena stared at the other woman for a moment, then she nudged Damon with her elbow. "I told you!" She waved again, smiling at the blonde, who gave her a look that was … almost frightened and definitely more than a little shocked. "Why is she looking at me like that?"

Damon frowned. "Beats me."

Stefan turned to the blonde and said something Elena couldn't hear. "What are they talking about?" she asked Damon, who of course would be able to hear from where they were standing.

"He just asked her to stay there for a moment."

As Damon spoke, Stefan left the mysterious woman and crossed the waiting hall. "Didn't I tell you I'd take a cab to the hotel?" he asked rhetorically when he was within earshot for Elena.

"Hello to you too, baby brother," Damon replied dryly. "For the record, it wasn't my idea: Little Miss Welcome Party wanted to be hospitable and pick you up."

"That really wasn't necessary."

"And now we know why. What's with Elle Driver over there giving my girlfriend the evil eye? I hope she didn't get her swords through security."

"She's a … friend," Stefan told him.

Damon smirked knowingly. "Is that what _she_ would say?"

"She's still staring at me," Elena piped in, getting a little uncomfortable. "Why is she staring at me?"

Stefan looked over at the blonde and frowned. "I honestly don't know."

"Here's a crazy idea: why don't we ask her?" Damon suggested, gesturing to the woman to join them. Hesitantly, she crossed the waiting area.

"Stefan?" she said, voice confused, looking up at Stefan.

"Guys, this is Tabitha," Stefan told Damon and Elena. "Abby, this is my brother, Damon, and this is Elena."

Tabitha's eyes widened. "Elena?" she repeated.

"Oh, I get it." Damon nodded understandingly.

"Then please enlighten me," Elena requested. "Because I don't have a clue."

"Tabitha here knows Katherine."

Both Stefan and Elena got shocked looks on their faces at Damon's conclusion, but Tabitha nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

"I take it you and Stefan never had the 'mutual friends' conversation," Damon assumed. "Or the 'ex' conversation, for that matter."

"I didn't really see any reason to open _that_ particular can of worms," Stefan replied, the shocked expression on his face giving way for a slightly uncomfortable look.

"And I don't suppose you thought it might be a good idea to, I don't know, mention that you were bringing a 'friend'?" Elena wondered, the air quotes around the word 'friend' practically audible in her voice.

"Well, I wasn't counting on a welcoming committee at the airport," Stefan countered. "I was going to call you when we got to the hotel."

"It's my fault," Tabitha piped in. "I wasn't going to come, really, but then I changed my mind at the last minute. And, no. 'Friend' is not the word I would use." She gave Stefan a look and he offered an apologetic smile in return.

"No, that's fine," Elena assured the other woman. "We were just caught a little off guard, that's all."

"_You're_ telling _me_," Tabitha mumbled. "Anyway, it's good to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about both of you."

"That's funny," Damon said, giving Stefan a pointed look. "We haven't heard _anything_ about you. Tabitha, was it?"

Tabitha's brow furrowed and she gave Stefan a reproachful look. "Abby, actually. I've asked Stefan never to use my full name. I hate it."

He got a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry."

"Just don't do it again."

"Promise."

"OK, what do you say we get the hell out of here?" Damon suggested, obviously sick of hanging around the airport. "I for one want to hear all about how you know the Queen Bitch of Bitchville."

Abby laughed. "I take it you're talking about Katherine?"

"Why, is there someone else you'd like to give that title to?"

"No, I think you're pretty much spot on."

He gave her an appreciative look. "I think we're going to get along just fine," he concluded, wrapping an arm around Elena's waist and pulling her along towards the exit, Stefan and Abby following behind them.

"So, you thought I was Katherine when you saw me?" Elena asked when they were all in the car, turning in the passenger seat to be able to look at Abby.

The other woman nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you could be twins. It's … to be honest, it's a little freaky."

Elena sighed: she didn't really like being reminded of how much she looked like Katherine. Fortunately, it wasn't something that was brought up very often and she hadn't really thought about it for years now. "I know. I mean, I haven't actually _met_ her, which I'm thinking I should be grateful for …" she remembered Isobel's comment about 'genetic curiosity' and how fascinated Katherine would be by their resemblance, "… but I've seen her picture."

"You _have_ to be related somehow." Abby shook her head in disbelief. "I mean, technically, she could be your great, great – to whatever degree – grandmother. It would be hard to know for sure, since she's been around for hundreds of years."

"That would mean Katherine had a child before she was turned," Stefan deduced. "Do you know anything about her human life?"

"No, sorry. She was already a vampire when I met her, and I'm guessing you know that she wasn't much of a sharer when it came to her personal life."

"When did you know her?" Elena asked curiously.

"1785, London," Abby replied. "We came to America together, actually. But I managed to get out of her clutches soon after that, and I've pretty much been avoiding her ever since. Not easy. You know how all vampires tend to run into each other at one point or another, at least if they're around for a while and definitely if they're on the same continent. I'm actually surprised I haven't met Stefan and Damon before now, we've all been in the States for over a century and a half."

"Well, I'm guessing you're playing for Stefan's team," Damon concluded. "Which would mean we're in entirely different leagues."

"What team?" Abby wondered in a confused voice.

"He's talking about hunting animals," Stefan explained.

"Oh." She got a fierce look on her face. "Yeah, I do. The vampire that turned me killed my entire family and forced me to feed from my mother to complete the change. I haven't tasted human blood since then, do you have a problem with that?"

Elena hadn't seen Damon speechless many times in the past five years, but this was one of those times. After a moment, he found his voice again. "No, of course not, sorry. It's just an inside joke between Stefan and me. Didn't mean to … sorry."

"So, you have one of those daylight rings too, right?" Elena changed the subject. "I mean, obviously: it's the middle of the day and you're not a pile of dust. I didn't think there were that many of them around."

"There isn't. Stefan's actually the first vampire I've met that has one in over a hundred years since I got mine." Abby laughed and twirled a golden ring with a lapis lazuli in it around her right middle finger. "Most witches aren't that interested in helping bloodthirsty vampires get even more dangerous. And it's not a good idea to mess with them, try to force them to help you: if they have enough magic to make a ring, they have enough magic to kill you. I met a witch in New Orleans back in 1885, and she didn't make me this ring until we had known each other for over ten years and she had made sure I was 'safe'."

"I guess it's a good thing my best friend is a witch, then," Elena concluded.

Abby raised her eyebrows. "But you're human."

Elena nodded. "Yeah."

Abby glanced at Damon, who was driving. "Ah, I see. For now."

"So how'd you two lovebirds meet?" Damon joined the conversation again, obviously having recovered after his little blunder. "Over a couple of tasty bunnies? Or are squirrels the romantic way to go these days?"

Abby and Stefan exchanged a look. "Abby and Henry have known each other for a long time," Stefan said.

"I met him a few months after I turned," Abby added. "He's helped me out a lot over the years. It can be hard, being an outcast among outcasts. But Henry's one of those people whose faith never fails, and he's good at sharing his beliefs with others."

"Well, he converted Stefan alright," Damon noted. "I never really went for that, myself."

"But you don't feed directly from humans anymore either," Abby pointed out. "So you're not completely unaffected."

"That was all Elena's doing," Damon replied quickly.

"Right, so you're trying to tell me that you didn't feel guilty even once after killing someone just to feed? Never, in a hundred and fifty years, did you ever think about the fact that it was someone's life you ended, that it was a person who would never get a chance to live?"

A shadow crossed Damon's face as Abby spoke, and Elena put her hand on top of his, squeezing it. He shot her a grateful look.

"The past is the past," he mumbled. "No point in dwelling too much on it."

Abby nodded. "True. I'm all for living in the now. I mean, we might be immortal or whatever, but that doesn't mean someone with a sharp stick won't come along and ruin the im-part."

"See, that's the kind of attitude I like!" Damon said approvingly. "Maybe you'll be a good influence on Mister Sulk-and-Brood over there."

Stefan rolled his eyes and Abby laughed. "I know what you mean, and I'm on it."

* * *

**AN: OK, so how do you like Abby so far? I know some of you have doubted Stefan being OK with Damon and Elena, and I did say that he had his reasons: here they are. He has actually, finally moved on. We're gonna get to know Abby a little better in the upcoming chapters, but for now I would love it if you could just give me your first impressions. She might have come off a little harsh, but that's just because of the Katherine/Elena thing and Damon's little comment about feeding from animals. OK, that's it. Please let me know what you thought!**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Well, I've been getting mostly positive feedback on Abby, I'm glad you guys seem to like her so far. **_**gseeman**_**: I actually didn't think about Lexi and Anna when I made the character, but I can see that she did end up like a sort of mix between the two. I hope that's OK with you guys. Like I said in the last chapter, she may have come across as a little harsh, but hopefully you'll warm up to her more in this chapter, when we get to know her a little better. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And lots of hugs for my wonderful beta, sunshine20096! That's all for now!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.**

* * *

**Chapter sixteen **

After a quick stop at the hotel where Stefan and Abby were staying, they all continued to Magnolia Grill, a restaurant specializing in Southern food.

"I haven't been to the South in _ages_," Abby said, voice slightly wistful, when they had been showed to their table. "I've missed the food down here."

"Right, you said something about living in New Orleans," Elena remembered. "But that was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

Abby nodded, lowering her voice a little as she continued. The whisper she was speaking in along with an almost mischievous sparkle in her eye made her look like a little girl sharing a particularly exciting secret with a friend. "I left New Orleans in 1897, but I stayed in the South for a while, first Houston, then Dallas, Memphis, Atlanta, Savannah. But I never really found a place where I felt like I fit in, so in 1925 I decided to try a complete change of scenery and moved up north, to New York. It was like coming home, so I got stuck."

"But you live in San Francisco now?" Elena wondered.

"Yeah, I moved there fifteen years ago, right after the turn of the millennium. I love New York, it's an amazing city and I think it'll always be home to me, but it was starting to get a little old. There's nothing like a change. Especially when you live for hundreds of years. Why stay in one place all the time, you know?"

Elena looked at the other girl in amazement. "You mean you lived in New York for … seventy-five years?"

Abby laughed, a bubbly, contagious sound. "Sure. I mean, you can't get away with the not aging thing in a town the size of Mystic Falls, maybe not even in a city like Durham, for very long. When I moved to New York back then, there were already six million people living in the city, and now there's more than eight. It's not that hard to stay under the radar among that many people. As long as I don't live in the same neighborhood for too long, I'm good. I've lived in Brooklyn, the Upper East Side, the Bronx … pretty much every part of the city."

"I guess I never really thought about that," Elena mused. "My brother and his girlfriend live there now, but they haven't been there very long, only about a year. Maybe they picked the city for that reason."

"You're brother is a vampire too?" Abby looked up at Stefan with an exasperated look on her face. "You don't tell me _any_thing!"

"Sorry," Stefan apologized, shrugging. "It hasn't really come up, and since you weren't going with me this weekend, I didn't think we needed to cover the whole 'who's related to whom and who's a vampire' quite yet. Maybe I should have given you a crash course on the plane, but I just didn't think about it."

Abby continued giving him an annoyed look for moment, then she abruptly smiled again. "Fine, you're forgiven. I can never stay mad at you for long, anyway. But if there's anything else you've failed to mention before, now might be a good time to come clean. Come on. Lay it on me."

He laughed. "Sorry, you know all my dirty little secrets, all the skeletons in my closet."

Abby smiled even wider and squeezed his hand. "Good."

Elena wondered if that was completely true. Had Stefan told Abby about their past? Somehow, she didn't think so – after all, the fact that your brother's current girlfriend is also your ex-girlfriend, who, on top of everything, is the mirror image of another girl that both of you used to date a hundred and fifty years ago, probably wasn't something that was easy to slip into a conversation, and he obviously hadn't mentioned Katherine at all. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"I'm just going to make a trip to the ladies' room," she said, putting her napkin down on the table and standing up. "Could you get me the tuna if I'm not back when the waiter gets here?"

"Sure," Damon assured her, shooting her a questioning look. She offered a smile back, showing him that she was OK.

"You know what?" Abby said, standing up as well. "I think I'll join you, if that's OK?"

Elena nodded. "Of course."

"Is it a genetic thing, that women always go to the bathroom together?" Damon wondered. "What do you _do_ in there?"

"That's for us to know, and you to wonder about," Abby replied with a wink, looping her arm with Elena's. "Us girls have to have _some_ secrets, right?" Without waiting for him to respond, she pulled Elena along towards the restrooms. "Your boyfriend can be a little testy sometimes, can't he?"

Elena laughed. "Yeah, but he doesn't really mean it. When you get to know him better you'll realize that he isn't really as … cynical as he might try to come off as. Though it might take a while: he's _very_ good at putting up that front of his, and it takes time to get through it."

"Yeah, Stefan said something about that," Abby noted. "I think his exact words were something along the line of 'don't take anything he says personally, it's just the way he is'."

"I think he's just trying to preserve some of the 'bad boy' image," Elena thought out loud as she opened the door to the ladies' room.

"Probably," Abby agreed, glancing at the three stalls: all the doors were open, so they were alone in the restroom. "I mean, since I never really did the whole feeding from humans thing, I didn't have to adjust to _not_ doing that, you know, but I can imagine that it must be a big step."

Elena hadn't really thought about that: Damon never said anything about it, never let on that he had a hard time sticking to his diet of bagged blood, and she had never noticed that he was struggling with it, but Abby was probably right. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you planning on going along with his eating habits, or have you considered the animal diet?" Abby wondered, leaning against the wall next to the door out to the main restaurant area, probably so she would know if someone was on the way into the restrooms.

"I'm going to do it Damon's way," Elena replied, going over to the sink and washing her hands. She hadn't really needed to use the bathroom, she had just wanted a moment to think.

"Animals aren't that bad," Abby told her. "I obviously don't have anything to compare it to, but it works really well for me."

"I'm sure it does." Elena wiped her hands on a paper towel and turned to face Abby, leaning against the sink as she pondered how much she was going to say. Finally, she decided to keep it vague. "But … I've seen what can happen if you drink animal blood and then get a taste of human blood, and it's not pretty. I figure if I stick to the bagged kind, I won't be as tempted to go after people in the street. It works for my brother – he's never tasted blood straight from a human, and he hasn't had any problems controlling himself so far – so I think it'll work for me too."

"Right, Stefan told me about what happened before he left Mystic Falls." Abby nodded thoughtfully. "And maybe you're right. I think it's different for everyone, and if that's what works for you, go with it. All I'm saying is that there _are_ options. After hearing Stefan talk about it, I get the impression that Damon's a little one-tracked about the whole human vs. animal blood thing."

"Yeah, he probably is," Elena agreed. "But I think I'll still try his way. I promise to keep what you said in mind, though."

"That's all I'm asking." Abby flashed her a quick smile before biting her lip and becoming serious again. "Look …" she started, "… I know I just met you and all, and maybe it's not my place, but are you sure this is what you want to do with your life? I know you and Damon have been together for a long time, but it's a big deal and not something you should take lightly."

Elena immediately got her mental defenses up. "Did Stefan put you up to this?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Damon had said that Stefan had seemed fine with her turning, but maybe he had just been pretending and was really planning on trying to talk her out of it. The possibility _had_ crossed her mind, but she would have thought that he'd be straightforward about it and bring it up himself, not get Abby to do it. "Did he ask you to try to convince me not to go through with it?"

Abby's eyes widened. "No, he hasn't said anything about it, honestly. I didn't even know that this was what was going on until earlier, in the car. I'm just asking because … OK, Stefan hadn't told me anything about Katherine before we came here, but he did tell me the basic story of back when he and Damon became vampires. I know that Damon wanted to be turned, and Stefan probably didn't really have a problem with it, even if he hadn't thought about it that much. And I'm guessing your brother chose it too, to be with his girlfriend. But I was turned against my will, and I know how hard it can be. So don't do this just because it's what Damon wants. It has to be _your_ choice, nobody else can make it for you and you shouldn't let them."

As Abby spoke, Elena relaxed a little. "Thanks," she said when the other girl had finished. "I appreciate it, I do. But I've made my decision. I did a long time ago, really, and I'm not going to change my mind. I don't _want_ to change my mind."

Abby nodded. "OK, I get it. Just as long as you've really thought about everything and aren't just jumping into this. Because, you know … your situation is very different from what most of us face when turning."

"How do you mean?" Elena asked curiously. "I mean, it's my choice, I know, but I'm guessing that's not what you're referring to?"

Abby shook her head. "No, it's not. When I was turned, my whole family was killed, like I told you. And I know that Stefan and Damon's mother was already dead when they turned, and their father … died soon after. But you still have family, people you care about that are going to grow old and die. You may not be able to live among them or even see them when you're a vampire, but I don't get the feeling that you're the kind of person who would just take off and never check in on them again either, so that's something you're going to have to deal with. Plus, you said that you're friend's a witch and I got the impression that she's going to make you a daylight ring, so I'm guessing she's in on the secret. That'll just make it that much harder – someone you can still be friends with – when their time is up."

Elena was silent for a long moment. She had thought about all of this, of course – watching Jenna and Alaric grow old and die, Bonnie, even Maddy – and it wasn't something she was looking forward to. But she had tried to be realistic about it – you never knew how long anyone had left, and this way she was going to be around for her loved one's entire lives, and their children's and grandchildren's and so on …

"I know," she said quietly. "I'm not going to pretend that it'll be easy when that happens. And it'll be even harder than you think, because my aunt and uncle, who are really the only family I have left, know everything too. So I'll still see them, they'll be in my life. I have a cousin, she just turned one … even thinking about having to watch her die someday … but, at the same time … there are so many people that I love that will _never_ die, you know? And then I would be growing older and, eventually dying, and … maybe it's selfish, but I think I'd have a harder time living with _that_." She looked down at her hands.

After a moment, she felt Abby's hand on her shoulder. "I get it," the other girl said. "And it's not selfish. It's human. We're hardwired to do whatever it takes when we've found our other half, the missing piece of our own personal puzzle. You've found that, and now you're doing what you need to do to get to stay with him forever. It's just that, in your case, forever is a hell of a lot longer than for normal people."

Elena couldn't help but laugh at that. "I sure hope so."

Abby laughed too. "I just wanted to make sure you had thought about it. I didn't think it'd be something that Damon would have brought up, since he didn't really have to deal with it back when he was turned."

Elena was a little touched by her concern. "I really have thought about it – everything this will mean. But thank you, it's really nice of you to …"

"Butt in?" Abby interjected with a smile.

"No, really. I appreciate it."

One of those contagious laughs escaped Abby's lips again. "Listen to me, we met like five minutes ago and I'm already trying to tell you how to live your life, like we've known each other for years. I'm sorry, I'm not really this pushy, honestly."

Elena laughed too. "That's OK. But I have thought about everything, and I know what I want." The other girl's openness made her feel like they had actually known each other for much longer than was really the case, and she wondered if she should maybe mention her past with Stefan. She didn't really think it was her place, but she didn't want to keep secrets from Abby, either … luckily, before she had the chance to say anything, Abby continued.

"Great!" She leaned over the sink, checking her make-up in the mirror. "So, speaking about boyfriends, any pointers about mine? You did date him first, after all."

Elena was a little taken aback by that. "I wasn't sure if he had told you about our history," she said.

"Oh, yeah, he told me about that back when you guys were in San Francisco for Christmas." Abby shrugged, as if she didn't think it was a big deal. And maybe it wasn't: vampires were bound to pile up a few exes over time. "I have to admit, I felt like I had stumbled into some sort of soap opera for a while."

Elena looked away from Abby's questioning eyes in the mirror. "It wasn't something I planned," she said quietly. "It just sort of happened."

"Hey, I know how it is," Abby assured her, squeezing her arm. "You can't choose who you love, you know. There's no point in even trying. And hey: if you two hadn't broken up back then, I never would have met Stefan. So thanks!"

Despite the slight tension, Elena couldn't help but laugh.

"How long have you two been together?" she wondered. "You said something about Christmas, but we didn't see you when we were in San Francisco."

"We were still just friends back then," Abby replied. "And I wasn't in town when you and Damon visited, anyway. But, let's see … I met Stefan about a year ago now, when Henry visited me in April last year, but I didn't manage to get him to ask me out until a couple of months ago."

"But you were interested long before that?"

Abby smiled. "Yeah. I mean, what's not to be interested in, you know? I don't come across that many vampires who share my particular lifestyle, and the guy's hot! But he can be pretty slow on the uptake sometimes, you know how guys can be. I got the impression that he was interested too, but it still took him _forever_ to do something about it."

Elena shook her head, remembering how completely ignorant Damon had been to her – in her mind, at least – obvious hints back before they got together. "Men!"

"Tell me about it!"

They both laughed for a moment.

"So why didn't you just take the first step?" Elena then wondered. Abby didn't strike her as the kind of girl who would just sit around and wait for a guy to pursue her, not if she was really interested.

Abby sighed. "It's my eighteenth century upbringing," she said. "Some things I just haven't been able to get rid of, the fact that men are the ones who are supposed to woo women being one of them."

"'Woo'?" Elena laughed. "I don't think I've heard anyone who wasn't in BBC production of a Jane Austen novel use that word."

"Again, blame it on my eighteenth century upbringing." Abby pouted a little. "I like to think that I sound more or less 'modern', but sometimes words sneak in there without me thinking about them."

"Don't worry, that was the first time I even thought about the fact that you're more than two hundred years old," Elena assured her.

A smile quickly spread on Abby's face. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Elena glanced at her watch. "We should probably get back."

"Before they think we've made a run for it," Abby agreed.

* * *

Damon looked after Elena and Abby for a long moment, shaking his head. "Women," he then muttered, turning back to Stefan.

"You _really_ want to know what they're doing in there, don't you?" Stefan said with an amused look on his face.

"Yeah. Let's go eavesdrop, at least find out what they're talking about."

He made to get up from the table, but Stefan grabbed him by the arm to keep him in his seat. "Even if we could sneak up on Abby – which, trust me, we can't – don't you think it would be a _little_ rude to listen in on their conversation? They could be talking about us, you know."

Damon let out an exasperated sigh. "Exactly why we _should_ listen in," he insisted.

Stefan just shook his head. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

Damon leaned back in his chair. "Fine," he grudgingly agreed. "Be boring. You've had a century and a half's practice."

"Besides, they'll be back any minute," Stefan pointed out, ignoring the jibe.

Brow furrowing, Damon nodded. "Yeah …" He realized that he had gotten his opening without even trying: he had been wondering how he was going to get Stefan alone for long enough to bring up his concerns.

"Something on your mind?" Stefan wondered.

Damon glanced in the direction where Elena and Abby had disappeared: there was no sign of them yet.

"Actually, yes," he told his brother. "I was going to ask you for a favor."

"Shoot."

"It's a big one," Damon qualified. "And if you say no … I suppose I'll find a way around it, but …"

"Just spit it out," Stefan interrupted him impatiently.

"Alright, alright." Damon huffed. "Don't be so grumpy about it." He ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep, unneeded breath. "OK, so you know what's going to happen next week. It's what Elena wants, and God knows it's what _I_ want too, but I … I don't know if I can …"

"You're not sure you'll be able to do it," Stefan finished for him, a knowing look on his face. "Kill her."

Relieved to not have to come out and say it, Damon nodded. "I mean I know, on a logical level or some crap like that, that she won't really be _dead_, but …" To his surprise, a smile was spreading on Stefan's face. "Why are you smiling? Do you think this is _funny_?"

Stefan raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "No, no, of course not, sorry. It's just … I've been a little worried that you'd take all this too lightly, that you wouldn't think twice about actually killing your girlfriend and that doing it wouldn't affect you in any way, which I thought would show that you haven't moved on from your old life as much as you think. I mean, you used to _love_ the kill, I just thought that this might bring all that back, remind you of why you chose that lifestyle to begin with."

Though he could see Stefan's reasoning, Damon was still a little mad that he would assume something like that. "Yeah, well, I wasn't planning a killing spree, sorry to burst your bubble," he muttered.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Stefan wondered, ignoring his brother's annoyance.

Damon frowned. "Well, I talked to Anna about it – she had to do it when Jeremy turned, after all, so firsthand experience – and she pointed out that I didn't have to be the one to do the actual _killing_. Elena just has to die while she has my blood in her system, it doesn't matter how. And I'm sure she'd be OK with taking sleeping pills or something, but, I don't know … it doesn't feel very safe. I want it to be quick and painless, you know. Anna offered to do it. I think she and Jeremy are going to stick around for a while after, help Elena with the change like you're planning to." He remembered his and Elena's conversation in the car the other day. "We call it VU."

Stefan raised an eyebrow at that. "VU?"

"Vampires Unanonymous. I'm working on a twelve-step program and everything."

"Of course."

"Anyway …" Damon got back on track, "… like I said, Anna offered to do it. But I don't think Elena will want Jeremy there when it actually _happens_, so …"

"Are you asking me if I can do it?" Stefan interrupted, seeming to get a little impatient by Damon beating around the bush.

"Well, yeah. So?"

Stefan's brow furrowed and Damon could practically hear the wheels turning in his head as he thought it through. "I think so," he finally said. "I mean, it won't be easy. She might not be my girlfriend anymore, but she is still my friend and I do care about her, you know that. And the idea of killing _anyone_, let alone a close friend …"

"If you don't want to do it, just say it," Damon interrupted him. "Like I said, I'll figure something out."

"Didn't I just say that I thought I _could_ do it?" Stefan asked, eyebrows raised.

Damon shrugged. "Yes, you did, but then you started going on about how difficult it would be and how you don't really like the idea of killing, so I just figured you were talking yourself out of it."

"No, I wasn't." A slightly wry smile appeared on Stefan's face. "I understand that this is really hard for you. I'm _glad_ it is, weird as that may sound. So I'll help you. I'd like to think that you would do the same for me, if I were in a similar situation."

Damon thought about that for a moment. He tried to imagine the roles being reversed: what if Stefan hadn't slipped up and killed Amber all those years ago and never left Mystic Falls? Would it be Stefan asking him to kill Elena so that the two of them could spend the rest of eternity together? Would he have been able to do it? He wasn't sure. Even before he had realized that he was in love with her back then, there had been a … connection, that was the word Stefan had used, between them. On the other hand, if Stefan's new girlfriend hadn't already been a vampire, he thought he could do that for his brother if he asked.

"Maybe I would," he mused out loud, and Stefan nodded quietly. Maybe his thoughts had strayed the same way as Damon's?

"Have you talked to Elena about this?" Stefan wondered.

Damon frowned. "Actually, no. Not yet. I wanted to check with you first, make sure you were on board."

"Are you worried she won't like the … arrangement?"

"I don't know." Damon shook his head. "Instinctively, I want to say that she'll be fine with it: like you pointed out, you two _are_ friends and she does trust you. But … I won't flatter myself and say that I always know what goes through her mind."

Stefan laughed. "I don't think that's an Elena-specific trait: you never know what _any_ woman is thinking."

"True," Damon agreed. "Speaking of women, do tell about your new 'friend'. And don't think I've forgotten that you didn't feel like sharing before you actually got here. Where's the brotherly love? I thought talking about stuff like girlfriends was part of the whole family thing."

"I told you, I wasn't expecting you to meet me at the airport!" Stefan countered.

"Yeah, yeah. So, spill."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you." Stefan shrugged. "She's … amazing. She's so … alive, paradoxically and for lack of a better word. I don't know, I think I had gotten so used to the fact that, to be able to live with myself, I'd have to deny myself what I wanted the most. I didn't choose to live on animal blood because I liked it, you know. She showed me that it doesn't have to be a sacrifice, living the way we do. She made life … fun again."

"God knows you could use some fun," Damon noted, getting a look from Stefan. "What, I'm just saying. You can be _extremely_ boring a lot of the time."

To his surprise, Stefan laughed. "Yeah, I've come to realize that."

"Wow," Damon mumbled, tilting his head to the side and looking at his brother through narrowed eyes. "You _look_ like Stefan, and you _kind of_ sound like him … it's like _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_. The 1978 version, of course."

Stefan just shook his head. "Very funny."

* * *

"I like her," Elena said as she and Damon were heading home later that evening. "I mean, apart from the animal diet thing, they seem to be as different as two people can get, but I think she'll be good for him."

Damon nodded. "Right there with you. She's very … perky. Which, normally, I would hate, but it's probably a good thing. If she had been all doom and gloom like Stefan, we might have ended up with two suicidal vampires on our hands – never a good thing."

"And that's not an exaggeration at _all_." Elena rolled her eyes. "But he did seem happier, right? I mean, not that he's been exactly _un_happy before, but still … I think he seemed happier."

Damon glanced over at her, noting the relieved look on her face. He knew that, even if they never really talked about it, she still felt a little guilty about the two of them getting together back when Stefan had left Mystic Falls. At least every now and then, and especially when they went to visit Stefan in San Francisco or when he came to Durham. Hopefully, Abby would put an end to that.

"I'm sure they'll get their fairytale ending," he said. "Happily ever after and all that crap."

Elena just shook her head, not bothering to answer.

The last few minutes of the drive passed in silence, and soon they were home.

"I think I'm going to bed," Elena said as soon as they had entered the apartment, a yawn escaping her. "I'm beat and tomorrow's a big day."

"Hang on," Damon replied, grabbing her by the hand. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

She frowned. "I thought _you_ were the one who said that conversations that start like that never end well," she pointed out suspiciously, but followed him into the living room.

"I just want to go through a practical matter," he told her.

"OK."

He sat down on the couch, frowning for a moment before turning to face her. "There's something I've been thinking about a lot over the past couple of weeks," he started. "You know how the whole turning thing works. You drink my blood – which, of course, won't be anything new – then you have to die, wake up and drink blood. Simple as that."

"Not so simple?" she assumed.

"The dying part," he explained. "The quickest, easiest and least painful way would probably be to snap your neck. It would be over in seconds and you wouldn't feel a thing. I just … I don't think I can do it. No, I _know_ that I can't do it."

"Oh." She realized why that would be too much for him: she really should have thought about it herself, but she just hadn't. "Well, we can do it another way. I mean, I could take some pills or something. You don't have to …"

"I thought about that too," he cut her off. "And it's an option, but I'm not completely comfortable with that either."

"So what are you suggesting?" Elena asked. "Or have you changed your mind? Because …"

"No, of course not," he assured her.

"Then what?"

"Like I said, the pills thing is an option," Damon pointed out before continuing, "but I asked Stefan if he thought he could do it and he agreed. It would be quick, painless, and I don't want to drag it out too long since I'm not completely sure how the whole blood in your system thing works."

Elena's eyes widened. "Stefan?"

"If you're OK with that," he hurriedly added. "If not, then we'll do it another way, no problem. Anna offered to do it too, but I figured you wouldn't want Jeremy around for that, so …"

"No, I don't want Jeremy there," she agreed quickly. "But … are you sure _you're_ OK with Stefan doing it? I mean, you know that it wouldn't mean _anything_, but still … "

"I know, and I'm good, honestly." He gave her a quick smile to prove his point. "I mean, the blood is the main thing, and it'll be _my_ blood that'll turn you. I'll be there every step of the way. And if I can't do it myself, I want someone we both trust to do it."

She gave him a long, scrutinizing look to make sure he really was sincere before nodding. "OK. Then we'll do it that way."

* * *

**AN: OK, what did you think? I know it can be a little difficult to see this version of the Elena/Damon/Stefan relationship with everything that's going on on the show right now, especially Damon and Stefan getting along and trusting each other, but this is the way I see it happening in my story. I hope you liked the chapter, let me know!**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: First of all, I'd like to apologize for not updating sooner. These two weeks have just been crazy, with work and school and my master's paper and, well, life in general, really. But I promise, I haven't forgotten this story, and I am going to finish it (and probably write a couple more sequels if I know myself at all!). And today I'm handing in the second, and hopefully more or less final, draft of my paper, so with any luck I won't have much to do on it after this. In any case, until I hear back from my advisor, I won't be able to do much, so (in theory, at least) more time for this fic! OK, that's it, I'm done defending myself. Thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter, you guys are the best! I got mostly positive response about the Stefan being the one to kill Elena thing, though some of you don't seem thrilled about that. I think that **_**Zoraya Windwalker**_** pretty much nailed what I'm trying to accomplish with that scenario in her review: that Damon and Stefan are close enough as brothers and friends now that this would be possible. Maybe I should have put more time into developing that relationship, something that has mostly happened in my head between the individual stories, but that would have made for a very long fic. This is my attempt to point out how far the two of them, and Elena and Stefan too, for that matter, have come in their friendship. **_**Kat**_**: I can see what you mean about Elena turning being a private moment for her and Damon, and it will be, at least if I succeed in what I'm planning to do. Stefan is merely a means to an end, which he knows, and he won't be intruding or anything. And as far as Elena's guilt about getting together with Damon while Stefan was gone goes, I honestly believe that she's the kind of person who would think about that now and then even after this long. I mean, it's not like she's obsessing over it all the time, but now and then when she sees Stefan alone, I think she'd feel a little guilty. That's my take on her character anyway, I hope you can see what I'm getting at. **_**DelenaShipper**_**: I'm sorry you feel like Elena wouldn't go along with this. I think that, if she realized how difficult it would be for Damon to do it, she'd be OK with it happening this way. And she and Stefan are friends, she trusts him. **_**Tinkerbell90**_**: I've been wavering back and forth about whether or not to include the wedding in this story. I still haven't decided, really, but if I don't, it's more than likely that I'll do a sequel with it in it. Wow, that turned into a really long AN! Just a big hug for my beta, sunshine2006578, and then we'll get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter seventeen**

Elena woke up early the next morning, feeling too jittery to be able to go back to sleep. When she woke up tomorrow, she would be a college graduate and the entire world – literally – would be at her feet. And, soon, she would join Damon in immortality, knowing that they would be together for the rest of eternity. That thought made her stomach do a little flip, not out of fear, but out of excitement and eagerness. Not once since they talked about her turning a couple of weeks ago had she wondered if she had made the wrong decision, and this – the thrill that shot through her every time she thought about it – only made her that more sure of her choice. This was what she wanted, the path her life was destined to take, her fairytale ending.

She was going to get her very own happily ever after, with emphasis on the 'ever' part.

Wanting to share this early-morning happiness, she rolled around to face Damon. To her disappointment, he was still fast asleep. She glanced at the alarm clock and sighed when she saw that it was only a little after seven thirty. She knew that if she woke him up he'd be cranky all day … unless … there was _one_ way she could wake him up without him getting annoyed at her.

Moving closer to him, she slipped her hand underneath the covers and trailed one finger down his chest. He sighed in his sleep and rolled onto his back, still deeply asleep.

Taking advantage of his new position, Elena quickly took her panties off and then moved so that she was sitting across his thighs. She leaned down until their upper bodies where skin on skin and kissed his neck, getting a low grumble in return.

"Morning," she whispered against his skin.

"Mmmm." A little lazily, he moved his hands along her thighs to her hips, leaving goose bumps in their wake. "And a good morning it is."

She kissed the side of his jaw before raising herself up on her elbows to look down at him. "Oh yeah?"

"Uh-huh." Damon finally opened his eyes, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "It's not every day my wake-up call is you, naked, on top of me."

"True. _You're_ usually the one waking _me_ up for sex."

"Like you have a problem with that." His hands had continued on their way north and reached her waist, and now he lifted her up a little, moving her so that she was more … strategically situated.

"I see someone's already up," she noted, pressing herself closer.

"What can I say? The things you do to me …"

"Ditto."

She leaned down for a real kiss, and their lips and tongues moved together, slowly. The perfect morning kiss.

Despite obviously being more than ready for action, Damon didn't seem to be in a hurry. He wrapped one arm around Elena's waist, keeping her body pressed against his, and his other hand moved up and down her side, her thigh, her back, lazily caressing her skin and fueling the fire inside her.

"What time is it?" he mumbled after a moment. "Everyone's coming over for lunch before the graduation ceremony, remember? I'm not that interested in having your entire family knock on the door in the middle of the show."

"It's not even eight yet," she replied a little breathlessly. "Plenty of time."

"Did you have to wake me up so early?" he grumbled.

Elena pulled back a little to look at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you complaining?" she asked, rhetorically, while moving her hips a little. "Because I can go take a shower, have some breakfast, start getting ready, and you can sleep a little longer, if that's what you want …"

Damon groaned. "Nope, sorry, pretend I didn't even say anything," he quickly replied, pulling her back down on top of him.

She smiled against his lips, giving herself into the kiss and letting everything else go. It wasn't difficult: her mind had a tendency to go a little blank during moments like these.

Feeling like they'd had enough foreplay for now – she could tell that Damon was of the same opinion, because his grip around her waist had hardened a little to pull her even closer to him and he had started moving his hips against her – she slipped one hand between them to position him at her entrance, then, slowly, sank down on him.

When she was surrounding him completely, she broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against his, breathing hard.

"You know …" he started, sounding a little out of breath himself, "… anytime you feel like waking me up like this, go ahead. I can guarantee you, I'd be 'up' for it."

She couldn't help but laugh at his double entendre. "I'm sure you would."

Pushing herself off him a little, she started moving, slowly, letting him slip almost completely out of her before pushing back down and then pausing for a moment before repeating the movement. His fingers dug into her hips, and she could tell that he was trying to get her to move faster.

"I'm in charge now," she said with a smile, grabbing his wrists and pinning his hands over his head – she knew, of course, that she would never be able to do that if he didn't cooperate, at least to some extent. At least not yet …

"Are you now?" He leaned up a little, trying to catch her lips, but she evaded him, leaning down to hiss his neck instead. "Tease!"

She laughed against his skin, doing nothing to pick up the movement of her hips. He could take it for a few minutes.

Soon, his hips started moving in sync with hers, meeting her every downward movement and pushing deeper inside her. Just when she had decided that she'd teased him enough and was about to give in to the desire, Damon flipped them around so fast that she didn't have a chance to react, and then it was her hands that were pinned against the bed, preventing her from being able to move much at all.

"My turn," he told her in a menacing voice, eyes dark.

"Go ahead," Elena replied, fully expecting him to start moving faster into her, pushing her to the edge and then over it in a matter of minutes. She wanted him to.

Only he didn't.

His movements were, if possible, even slower than hers had been. For a long moment, he just hovered above her, eyes intent on her face, enjoying seeing the effect he had on her.

Hoping to get him to pick up the pace, Elena bent her leg at the knee and started pushing back against him. All that happened, however, was that he leaned down, brushed his lips against hers briefly, and then kissed her neck in that sensitive spot right behind her ear. Moaning, she tried to free her hands, but his grip on her wrists was impossible to break.

Still moving excruciatingly slowly in and out of her, he then continued down her neck, kissing her collar bone, before letting his tongue dart out to graze her nipple in one swift motion. Automatically, she arched her back against him, but he had already moved on, kissing her breast, rib cage. By the time he repeated the action on her other nipple, Elena didn't think she could take it much longer.

"Please …" she mumbled, writhing in vain beneath him.

Whether her plea had effect or whether he had also reached that point of no return she didn't know, nor did she care. In any case, he kissed his way up her chest and neck until he reached her mouth, his lips hard and demanding against hers. Releasing her hands, he grabbed her leg and wrapped it around his waist, giving him even better access to her, and started moving faster, harder.

Gasping into his mouth, Elena wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting him even closer, impossible as that may be. Within seconds, she could feel her release only inches away and pushed her hips against his, her entire world exploding in a firework of pleasure.

The experience was so intense that she didn't even notice whether or not he followed her over the edge, but when she finally became aware of her surroundings again, he had collapsed on top of her.

"I think I might have blacked out there for a moment," she mumbled breathlessly, and Damon laughed before rolling off her onto his back, his breathing just as labored as hers.

"Tell me about it," he agreed.

They lay there, both breathing hard, for some time.

"What was that you said about being a tease?" Elena then asked, when her breathing had started to at least return to normal. He really did know how to drive her crazy … though she wasn't completely sure that was a bad thing.

Damon turned onto his side next to her, a mischievous smile on his face. "Tit for tat."

* * *

"How do I look?" Elena asked, turning from the mirror to face Damon, who was splayed out on the bed. She was wearing her graduation gown, hood and cap. She had tried them on when she first got them, of course, but wanted to make sure that everything looked good before the ceremony this afternoon.

"Like someone who's about to graduate from college," he replied. "Turn around."

Obediently, she turned in a circle, giving him the full view.

"I kind of miss the purple gowns we had at Mystic Falls High," she reminisced with a sigh. "I mean, black is probably better, anything matches, but it _is_ kind of boring."

"I think it's supposed to be more academic or something," Damon told her with a shrug. "You are getting your Bachelor Degree, you know. Have to look the part."

"I guess." Turning back to the mirror, she gave herself one last onceover before she took off the cap and carefully put it down on the dresser next to the mirror. Next came the hood, which she hung over the door to the walk-in closet to keep it from wrinkling.

"You want a hand?" Damon wondered from behind her, and she turned to find him looking at her with a familiar smile on his face.

"Somehow, I don't think that's a good idea," she replied after glancing at her watch. Almost noon, meaning her family along with Stefan and Abby were going to be there in less than half an hour. The graduation ceremony started at three in the afternoon and Elena had to be there thirty minutes before, giving them two hours to have lunch and get to the campus.

"Oh, I think it's a _great_ idea," Damon objected, getting up from the bed. "I can have you out of that robe in seconds, and you know I can be _very_ fast when I have to."

He reached out to pull the zipper down, but she took a step back, out of reach.

"I have to finish my hair and make-up," she said, pulling the zipper the rest of the way down herself and taking off the gown, revealing her 'normal' clothes underneath. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go check on the food? The steak should be ready any minute."

He looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment, then sighed and left the room, muttering something about 'being much more useful in the bedroom than in the kitchen'. Elena just shook her head and grabbed a hairbrush along with a headband and a bunch of hairpins before going into the bathroom.

Twenty-five minutes later, she was happy with both her hair and her make-up, and left the bedroom. In the hallway, the mouth-watering smell of marinated steak and Jenna's wonderful garlic steak sauce wafted towards her.

"Mmm, it smells delicious," she noted as she entered the kitchen and spotted Damon taking the steak out of the oven. Everything else seemed to be on the table already, including plates, cutlery and glasses.

"Not half as delicious as you," he replied, putting the steak down on the table as well.

Elena rolled her eyes. "That's a bit of a cliché, don't you think? Though I'm not sure it's ever been used about smell before …"

"Cliché or not, it's still true," he insisted, coming over and burying his face against her neck, wrapping his arms around her. "You smell good enough to eat."

She laughed a little. "Don't say that so Jenna hears you, or all the progress she's made since we told her might go out the window."

"I'll try to remember not to mention anything about eating you in front of her," he assured her dryly, pulling away. "But you do smell – and look – amazing."

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Is there anything I can do?"

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. "You can get that," he told her. "I have everything covered in here."

Elena went into the hallway to open the front door, revealing Jenna, Alaric, Maddy, Jeremy and Anna. "Hey guys, come on in!"

"Mass invasion by the Gilbert-Saltzman-Johnson clan," Jeremy joked, giving Elena a quick hug before going past her into the apartment.

"Invade away," Elena replied with a laugh.

"Congratulations, sweetie, I can't believe you're graduating from college," Jenna said, voice a little constricted, and enveloped Elena in a big hug.

"Are you getting a little sentimental, Aunt Jenna?" Elena wondered amusedly.

"Of course I am!" Jenna replied immediately. "You're growing up so fast, I can't keep up."

For a split second, Elena considered telling her aunt that she wasn't planning on doing any more growing, but decided against it almost as soon as the thought had crossed her mind. It probably wouldn't make Jenna feel any better, and now really wasn't the time to drop a bomb like that.

"The food's ready, so why don't you go on into the kitchen?" she suggested instead. "We're just waiting for Stefan and Abby and then we can …" she was interrupted by another knock on the door, "… eat. And that'll be them, perfect timing."

"Hi!" Abby greeted excitedly when Elena opened the door for the second time. "Big day, huh? I remember the first time I graduated from college."

Elena groaned. "Don't remind me, or I'll start getting nervous," she replied. "I'm trying very hard not to think about the fact that, in a couple of hours, I'm going to have to walk down a very long aisle in front of hundreds of people, dressed in a floor length gown on top of everything. I'm terrified of tripping and falling on my face in front of everyone."

"You'll be fine," Abby assured her. "But I'll try not to mention it again."

"Thanks." Both Abby and Stefan were hanging back, and Elena realized that at least Abby needed a formal invitation. "Come on in, guys."

Jeremy and Anna had continued into the kitchen, but Jenna, Alaric and Maddy were still in the hallway. Stefan gave Jenna a slightly sheepish smile. "Hi, Jenna."

"Hello there," she replied, seeming a little amused at his discomfort.

"I guess I'm not your favorite person in the world right now," he assumed, looking down at his feet. "I just want to say that I'm sorry, for being a part of this lie for so long. All I can say is that it wasn't my place to tell you the truth."

"I know," Jenna told him. "And I get it, at least to some extent. I mean, you should all have realized a long time ago that I would be able to handle the truth," she gave both Elena and Alaric slightly annoyed looks, "but this is the way it is now, and I'm dealing with it. So don't beat yourself up about it … too much, anyway."

"Again, I'm really sorry."

For a moment, Elena thought that the situation might get tense, but then Abby stepped in. "And this must be Maddy!" She went up to Alaric and ruffled Maddy's hair a little. "Aren't you just the cutest little girl I ever saw? Yes you are. I could just eat you up!" It only took her a split second to realize what she had said, then a horrified expression appeared on her face and she took a few steps back. "I didn't mean it like that!" she exclaimed in a shocked voice. "I would never do anything like that! I don't eat kids! I mean, I don't eat _people_ …" She turned and buried her face against Stefan's chest. "Please make me stop talking!"

To everyone's surprise – especially Elena's – Jenna started laughing. "I can take a joke," she said as explanation when the others gave her confused looks. "You don't have to walk on eggshells around me all the time. It's been weeks, I'm getting used to it."

"I still shouldn't have said that," Abby insisted. "I'm sorry. It's just, since I don't consider humans food, I don't think it's any weirder that I say something like that than that you would. But I know that it might not seem like that to you, so, again, sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Jenna ordered. "It's OK, honestly."

"Yes, please stop apologizing," came Damon's voice from the door to the kitchen. "If you keep it up, the food'll be cold by the time we start eating."

"Hello to you too," Abby replied sarcastically with a sweet, but deadly, smile. "_So_ nice to see you again."

"Can we just get started on lunch?" Damon asked, ignoring Abby and turning to Elena. "We are on a bit of a schedule, you know."

"Yes, we are," Elena agreed. "Come on, time to eat."

Damon led the way into the kitchen, where Jeremy and Anna were already seated at the end of the table.

"Sorry about the lack of space," Elena apologized. "This kitchen really isn't made for nine people."

"That's OK, we'll all fit," Jenna assured her.

"Absolutely," Abby agreed. "It's not a … Anna?" She had just spotted Anna and her eyes widened.

"Abby?" Anna looked just as surprised.

"I take it you two know each other," Damon concluded, sounding slightly bored. "Great, no introductions necessary then."

"It's good to see you," Abby said, giving Anna a one-armed hug before sitting down next to her. "How long has it been? Sixty years, seventy?"

"Something like that," Anna replied, nodding. "Let me think … New York, during the war, it must have been nineteen … forty-one, right before Pearl Harbor, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," Abby agreed. "So what have you been up to since then?" She caught Jenna staring at the two of them. "What?"

"Sorry." Jenna shook her head. "It just sounds funny, hearing you talk about the forties like it was just yesterday."

"You live for a few centuries, time starts being less and less important," Abby said with a shrug. "I remember some things from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries better than I remember what I did last week."

"How old are you?" Jenna asked. "If you don't mind me asking, I mean. I haven't gotten the low-down on what's appropriate and not yet, so if it's not something you want to talk about, just tell me."

Abby laughed. "No, it's fine. I was born in 1745, in London."

"I thought I heard a hint of a British accent yesterday," Elena noted.

"Yeah, it's mostly gone, but sometimes it shines through a little," Abby replied, putting on a heavy British accent. "I've lived on this side of the big pond longer than I did in the mother country, I guess you bloody Yankees are rubbing off on me."

"Very nice impersonation of Henry," Damon complimented her, and she and Stefan, who were the only ones that knew Henry, started laughing.

"He's actually right," Stefan noted. "You did sound exactly like Henry just now."

"Who's Henry," Jenna asked curiously.

"A mutual friend," Abby explained. "He's British too, but, unlike me, he still sounds it. And acts it. And … well, he pretty much _is_ the epitome of a stuffy, old Brit. You'd know exactly what I'm talking about if you saw him."

"How long has he been here, anyway?" Damon wondered.

"He left London before I did, so he must have been here for almost two hundred years now," Abby mused out loud. "I think he's so British he can't even consider not sounding British. It's part of who he is."

"One of the drawbacks of eternal life: eventually you run into all the nut jobs out there," Damon noted.

"Let's not be too hasty; I did manage to avoid _you_ for almost two centuries," Abby told him with a smile.

To avoid an argument, Elena hurried to pass the food around, and soon everyone was too busy eating to have time to talk.

* * *

"OK, we need to go through some ground rules before we leave," Elena said when the food had been eaten and the kitchen table cleared off.

"What, like, don't eat the locals?" Damon countered with a snort.

"I don't think _that_ particular rule needs to be said out loud," Stefan replied dryly. "But thank you for bringing it up."

"Happy to be of service."

Instead of trying to get everyone's attention, Elena turned to Jeremy. "You're going to have to be my cousin when Alison's around," she told him. "You never met her, but she has seen you in photos, and I figure it would be easier to pass you off as my cousin who just happens to look a lot like my brother than get into the whole explanation."

"Sure," Jeremy agreed. "As long as I don't have to wear a fake beard or nerdy glasses, I'm good."

"No beard or glasses, don't worry," Elena assured him. "But … you might need a different name. I don't think she'll buy that I have a brother _and_ a cousin named Jeremy."

"Like an alias? Cool." Jeremy seemed excited at the idea. "It'll be like I'm undercover or something."

"Oh, great, you've gotten his long-forgotten spy dream going again," Anna complained, and Jeremy's hand flew out to tickle her so fast that Elena didn't even catch it. "Hey, cut it out!"

"You brought it on yourself," Jeremy insisted, but released Anna. "OK, so a name … oh, can it be something cool, like Q?"

"Really?" Damon questioned, eyebrows raised. "If you want to go with a spy name, I think Austin Powers would be more appropriate."

Jeremy just rolled his eyes. "OK, how about Anthony? It's my middle name, it'll be easy to remember."

"Great," Elena said with a smile. "OK, everyone, Jeremy is now Anthony. Don't forget."

Everyone promised to try to remember that and they left the apartment. As she got into Damon's car, Elena felt butterflies start flapping around in her stomach. This was it, she was really graduating from college. A mix of excitement and fear spread through her entire body, and she took a deep breath, trying to remember that all she had to do was walk down the aisle, take her diploma from the Dean, and sit down. She could do that. Preferably without falling.

* * *

**AN: OK, there we go – what did you think? A little smut before we get to the graduation and the Big Day – which is coming soon, I promise! Ellie DC: I won't tell you exactly when it'll be, but the next chapter will be the actual graduation, and we all know what comes next … OK, let me know what you thought, and I'll try to update again as soon as possible!  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: OK, time for the big day! Or, the first of them, anyway, but let's take it one thing at a time! I hope I managed to depict the graduation ceremony OK, I haven't actually been to one, which is why I tried to keep it as vague as possible without completely skipping it. I'm trying to get back to my 'usual' updating schedule, we'll see how that works out … but it's the thought that counts, right? No? Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, good to know I haven't lost all of you in my unproductiveness. Hope you like the new chapter! As always, lots of hugs for my wonderful beta who has now put up with me for about six months, three stories and countless chapters – sunshine2006578, you're the best!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter eighteen**

They were running a little late by the time they got to the campus, and Elena hurried to say goodbye to the others and join the rest of the graduates in the rows of folding chairs that filled the space in front of the stage that had been set up on the football field. She spotted Alison several rows behind her own seat and waved, getting a big smile and a typical Alison wave – also known as the full-body-wave – in return.

The good thing about being a little late was that she didn't have to sit there waiting for the Dean to start speaking very long, meaning that she didn't have as much time to get even more nervous. Not that she wasn't nervous enough to begin with. Soon, the Dean was talking about journeys ending and new ones beginning, then it was time for the valedictorian and, before she knew it, the graduates were asked to line up to get their diplomas. It seemed like time was speeding by much faster than usual, which she was grateful for, since that meant it would soon be over.

When she walked up the steps to the stage, she heard applause and catcalls from the audience and turned to find Damon and Jeremy standing up, cheering, and the others applauding in their seats. She waved to them quickly before focusing on her feet to avoid tripping. Miraculously enough, she got onto the stage, accepted her diploma from the Dean, and made it down the stairs on the other side of the stage to the lawn where the graduates were gathering for the traditional cap toss without any incident. A few minutes later, she was almost knocked off her feet when Alison barreled into her from behind.

"We did it!" her friend exclaimed in a voice so high only dogs could hear her. "We really did it, we graduated from college! Look out, world, here we come!"

Coming from Alison, Elena thought that that was probably a wise suggestion.

"We sure did," she agreed. "Are your parents here yet? I thought you could all come back to our place for a while, celebrate a little."

"No, they're not here," Alison replied, shrugging. "I guess your only child's college graduation isn't as important as getting another multi-million-dollar deal and schmoozing up to the big shots. They were in Hong Kong last I talked to them, two weeks ago. I got their present in the mail today, with a card written by my dad's secretary."

Alison had a difficult relationship with her parents, to say the least. The first, and only, time Elena had met Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, she'd had a hard time believing that Alison was even related to them. She had never met anyone as laid-back and carefree as Alison, or anyone as stuck-up, pompous and just plain rude as her father, and her mother wasn't much better. Mr. Marshall had started a company of some sort – Alison hadn't said what kind, and Elena hadn't asked – during the eighties and had made more money than he could possibly spend if he lived to be a hundred. Still, instead of cutting back on work when Alison was born, her father started working even more and her mother got a position in the company as well, leaving their daughter to be brought up by different nannies and the housekeeper. One night during their junior year, Alison had gotten pretty drunk and told Elena that she was sure that the only reason her parents had had a child at all was because it was what they thought was expected of them and it would be good for business to be able to send out 'happy family' Christmas cards. Then they had found out that it wasn't all that much fun and dumped the responsibilities on hired help.

"I don't understand how you put up with them," Elena said, shaking her head.

"It's no big," Alison assured her. "I'm used to it by now. As a matter of fact, I didn't want them to come. It wouldn't feel real, even if they did bother to show up. Magda was here, even if she had to leave right after the ceremony, so I'm good."

Magda was the family housekeeper, a woman who had been in the Marshall household since before Alison was born and who had been more of a mom to her than her real mother.

"Then I guess it'll just be you, me and my slightly dysfunctional family," Elena concluded, looping her arm with Alison's.

"Don't get me started on dysfunctional families," Alison immediately exclaimed. "Your family's _nothing_ compared to mine. If there was a dysfunctionality award, we'd win _every_ time."

"Yeah, yeah." Of course, Alison didn't know the half of it … though if it was a question of 'normal' dysfunctionality – if there was such a thing – the Marshalls would probably be at least top three. "Come on, let's go celebrate that there'll be no more school!"

"Ever!"

Laughing, they made their way through the mass of people in the direction of where Elena thought her friends and family were. As soon as they were out of the worst crowd, she spotted Jenna who immediately hurried over to give her niece a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so proud of you, honey!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks, Aunt Jenna," Elena replied breathlessly. "But it's a little difficult to breathe when you're hugging me like that."

"Sorry, sorry," Jenna quickly apologized, releasing Elena and turning to Alison. "Congratulations, sweetie." And she gave Alison a hug too.

"Thanks, Mrs. Saltzman," Alison said with a smile.

Jenna shuddered. "Jenna, please. Mrs. Saltzman is Rick's mom."

"What's that about my mom?" Alaric's voice came from behind Jenna, and she quickly turned to give him an innocent smile.

"She's such a wonderful person," she said, voice only slightly sarcastic. Jenna and Alaric's mom didn't get along at all, and everybody knew it.

"Sure," Alaric replied with a roll of the eyes. "Congratulations, girls."

"Yeah, you both made it through the whole ceremony without tripping over your feet," Damon joined the conversation, appearing next to Elena and wrapping an arm around her waist. "I'm impressed, but, I have to say, a little disappointed. It would have livened up this party, and God knows it needs it."

"Oh, be quiet," Elena told him.

In response, he just pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. "I'm proud of you," he mumbled in her ear, and she softened. He always knew just what to say.

"Hey, cuz, finally a graduate, huh?" Jeremy said – overdoing his 'undercover' part a little, Elena thought – as he, Anna, Stefan and Abby joined the group as well.

"Yeah, _Tony_, you're the only one left now," she replied with a pointed look before turning to Alison for introductions. "Ali, this is my cousin Anthony and his girlfriend Anna." She was pretty sure Alison had never seen a photo of Anna, so they hadn't bothered coming up with an alias for her. "You've met Stefan, and this is Abby."

Abby smiled at Alison. "Hi. I _love_ your hair."

"Thank you!" Alison exclaimed excitedly, fingering her currently magenta-slash-electric-purple hairdo, and Elena got the feeling that she and Abby could become great friends if they got the opportunity. From the little she had learned about Abby yesterday and today, the two girls had very similar personalities, both being bubbly, buoyant, glass-half-full kind of persons – something she found astonishing and admirable in Abby, considering what she had been through. "I didn't know you had a cousin," Alison continued, pulling Elena back to the present. "Apart from Maddy, I mean. Hi baby." She waved at Maddy, who waved back with a big smile on her face.

"Yeah, Tony's my cousin on my dad's side. He used to live on the west coast, so we haven't really seen each other much in the past couple of years," Elena quickly improvised.

She thought she saw a curious look in Alison's eyes, and was sure that her friend had caught the resemblance to Jeremy. But Alison didn't say anything: maybe she didn't want to ruin the moment by mentioning Elena's presumable dead brother. If that were the case, Elena didn't mind. Anything to avoid an awkward conversation or even more improvised lies. She had just gotten out of the intricate web of lies that had been needed to keep Jenna in the dark about the world of vampires and whatnot, she didn't want to get into another one already.

"Should we maybe get going?" Alaric suggested, and Elena got the feeling that he too had picked up on Alison's look. "Before everyone else has the same idea and we get stuck in traffic."

"Yeah, let's go back to the apartment, have some cake," Elena agreed. Then she frowned, turning to Damon. "There will be cake, right?"

"Of course there will be cake," he assured her. "Stefan and Abby offered to pick it up on the way back, don't worry."

"OK, good."

They all started moving in the direction of the parking lot and their cars.

"Are you joining our graduation party?" Jenna asked Alison, and she nodded.

"If you guys don't mind, of course," she quickly said. "I mean, graduations are kind of family events …"

"Nonsense," Jenna interrupted her. "You're more than welcome."

"Do you need a ride?" Elena asked.

"Nah, I have my bike," Alison replied, gesturing to her newly purchased motorcycle.

As he spotted the bike, Damon's eyes widened. "You said she'd gotten _a_ motorcycle," he said accusingly to Elena. "Not _that_ motorcycle."

Elena frowned. "I didn't know there was anything special about it," she defended herself. "It's just another bike, isn't it?"

He gave her such an incredulous look she almost started laughing. "Just another bike? Just another … Sometimes you're such a _girl_, you know that? That's an MV-Augusta F4CC."

"That doesn't really tell me anything." She shrugged.

Shaking his head, Damon didn't even bother to try to explain, but went up to the bike and started walking around it to be able to look at it from all angles.

"It's one of the most exclusive bikes in the world," Stefan offered as an explanation. "There were only a hundred made and it has 1078 cc's, a 198 hp engine and a top speed of 195 miles per hour."

"OK, the 195 miles per hour part I got," Elena said. "But the rest is just mumbo-jumbo to me. And you don't go that fast, do you?" She turned to Alison. "You have to be careful, you know."

"Don't worry, I'm not suicidal," the other girl said with a laugh. "I stick to the speed limits … most of the time. I've just wanted one of these since I was fourteen and my best friend's older brother took us out on his, so I thought why not get one as a graduation present. I've earned it."

"How did you even _find_ one?" Damon wanted to know, apparently having finished his admiration of the bike. "I've been looking for one for years, and they're _never_ for sale."

Alison just shrugged, taking her graduation robe off and stuffing it, quite unceremoniously, into a backpack. "It's all about connections," she replied. "A friend of a friend runs a high-end dealership in LA and he has a lot of connections in the motorcycle world over there. He found out the second this guy wanted to sell, and he called me. Let's just say I made the owner an offer he couldn't refuse."

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Abby asked, sounding completely serious. The others gave her warning looks, knowing that she could very well be serious, but Alison just laughed.

"No, I didn't have to go _that_ far," she said. "I just offered him more than he was asking for, that's all. Do you want to take it for a spin?" The question was directed at Damon, who looked at her in amazement.

"Seriously?"

"Sure." Alison shrugged, tossing the keys to him. "But you do know how to drive a bike, right?" He gave her such an incredulous look that she laughed. "Then just don't crash it. And I don't think my helmet fits you, so take it easy. Elena will never forgive me if you get yourself killed on my bike, and I'd really rather not lose one of my best friends because you just can't help but be a daredevil. Plus, I've only had the bike for a week, it'd be a shame to wreck it already."

As if he was expecting her to take the offer back, Damon quickly straddled the bike and started the engine, a smile spreading on his face as it started to purr. "See you later," he called over his shoulder before he maneuvered the bike out of the parking space and continued between the parked cars to the street.

Elena looked after him for a moment. "Well, it seems like you just made _his_ day," she then said to Alison.

"Glad to be able to share the experience with another motorcycle aficionado," Alison replied. "I didn't know he was into bikes."

"Me neither, actually," Elena admitted. "But I guess I should have known: speed, danger, it's like made for him."

Both Alison and Anna laughed at that.

"Let's get going," Stefan then suggested. "Though I don't think we'll have to hurry to get home before Damon, he's bound to get the most out of this, I'd be surprised if we see him again before it's dark."

Everyone piled into their respective cars, Alison in Damon's car with Elena, and headed back to the apartment.

* * *

Stefan wasn't completely wrong: it was almost two hours later when Damon finally made it back to the apartment, and everyone but Alison had already left. She had started worrying that Damon might have gotten into an accident but Elena, who knew that even if he did, he wouldn't be hurt, had managed to assure her friend that he was fine.

"Is my baby still standing?" Alison asked in a worried voice as soon as she saw Damon.

He rolled his eyes. "Relax, she's perfectly fine," he said, dangling the keys from his fingers before handing them to Alison with a somewhat reluctant look on his face. "I filled her up and everything, she's good to go."

Alison let out a relieved breath. "Good. I was starting to worry that you had crashed or something, but Elena promised me that I didn't have to worry about you. So then I started worrying about my bike instead."

"Yeah, well, _I'm_ a lot tougher than I look," he said with a wink at Elena. "And I've been riding motorcycles longer than you would believe, so I know how to handle them."

"I'm still glad to have gotten my baby back in one piece." Alison grabbed her helmet. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go make sure she's really unharmed. Call me when you get back to town, and have fun!"

"I will," Elena assured her friend, giving her a hug goodbye.

"Are we going somewhere?" Damon asked confusedly when Alison had closed the front door behind her.

"Oh, no," Elena replied. "But I figure I probably shouldn't see her for a while after the change, and I don't want her to think that I'm ignoring her or something, so I told her we were going back to New York with Jeremy and Anna for a couple of weeks."

"Ah, starting the prep work already." He nodded. "Probably a good idea. What are you going to tell Jenna?"

She frowned at his question. "I'm not completely sure. Any ideas?"

"I'm actually surprised that she hasn't called you on it already," he said, shaking his head. "I would have thought she'd have connected the dots by now, but maybe she likes it in denial. But, sorry, no genius idea at the moment, hard as that might be to believe. I'll let you know if I think of something."

"Great." Elena sighed, going into the kitchen. "You're no help at all."

He followed her into the room, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against him before she had the chance to start cleaning up. "Oh, I can be a _lot_ of help," he mumbled in her ear before kissing her neck.

Laughing, she pulled away from him. "Yes, you can. You can help me clean up in here, you know how I hate leaving it until tomorrow."

Damon gave her a look through slightly narrowed eyes. "I didn't even participate in the actual _party_, but I have to clean up after it?" he questioned. "Why does that not seem fair?"

"Maybe because it's not," she replied with a smile. "But the sooner the apartment's clean, the sooner we can … do something else."

"Well, when you put it _that_ way …" Elena laughed as he started clearing off the table, putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. "Was the party a hit without me?"

"It was nice," she replied. "Maddy almost fell asleep about half an hour ago, so Jenna and Alaric decided to call it a day, and the others left too."

"Sorry I missed it," he apologized. "I got a little wrapped up in the bike: I didn't even realize I'd been gone for almost an hour until the refill gas lamp started blinking, and by that time I was more than halfway to Charlotte, so I got gas and headed back."

"Did _you_ have fun?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't think 'fun' is the right word," he replied with a wistful look on his face. "That bike is like … I don't know what to compare it to to explain it to you. If it were a car it would be a Ferrari Enzo or a Lamborghini Reventon or a Bugatti Veyron."

"OK, Ferrari and Lamborghini I've heard of, but the others …" Elena shook her head.

"Let's just say they're _really_ exclusive and _really_ fast cars," Damon told her.

"I _almost_ could have figured that out on my own. And how come I didn't know you had a thing for motorcycles?"

He shrugged. "I guess it hasn't come up. I mean, cars and motorcycles aren't exactly the best pillow talk."

She laughed. "True, I guess. Why don't you have a bike, if you love it so much?"

"I have one," he surprised her by replying. "Or, well, a couple. I just haven't been on any of them in a couple of years, I'm not sure why, really."

"How come I haven't seen them?" She frowned. "I've been in the garage at the boarding house several times."

"I don't keep them there; they're in a high-security garage complex in Richmond. I never got around to moving them to the boarding house after I came back to Mystic Falls, I guess. And then, for some reason, I got a little distracted by other things in life." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Will you take me out for a ride on one?" Elena asked.

Damon frowned. "What, now?"

"No," she quickly replied, feeling a little rush of fear run through her. She'd always been fascinated by motorcycles. Uncle John – or, technically her father – had had one when she was growing up, but she'd never been on one, probably because she'd always been a little afraid, too. The speed, the fact that you were completely unprotected if something happened … but if you were immortal, that wouldn't be as much of a problem. "After I change."

"OK." He nodded. "Speaking of, do we have some sort of a time line? I know we just said after your graduation, and now it _is_ after your graduation … not that I'm trying to rush you, I just want know what the plan is."

"Well, Jenna and Rick are going home tomorrow night, so I was thinking maybe Monday?" she suggested. "I'll tell Jenna we're packing – I told her that we're moving out of this place and back into the boarding house for a while before we leave for Europe – that should keep her off my back for at least a couple of days, and then … I'll think of something."

"Sounds like a somewhat tentative plan, but it'll do for now. You know that we actually _do_ have to pack, though? The lease on this place runs out at the end of the month."

Elena sighed. "I know. It's a good thing you left a lot of your stuff at the boarding house, it'll save some time. But still … should we maybe do that first? Who knows how long it'll take before I can be of any use. And I'm not trying to put it off, promise."

"Didn't think you were. And, no, I don't think we have to do that. Worst case scenario, Anna and Abby can babysit you while the guys and I pack up everything. Shouldn't take us more than a day or so."

"Great." She huffed. "That's what it's going to be like, right? You guys will be like my babysitters or wardens or something, keeping me from messing up."

"No," he assured her, but at a look from her continued, "OK, so maybe a little, at least at first. Unless you've changed your mind about going with the baggy diet."

She was pretty sure that he wasn't really serious, but still felt like she had to make her standpoint clear.

"No, no, of course not. I guess I can put up with being treated like a child for a while if it means I won't kill some innocent person in the streets."

"Are Jeremy and Anna staying, by the way?"

Elena nodded. "Yeah, they are. Jeremy's done with school for the summer, and Anna said that she just has to go back to New York on Monday and talk to her boss so that she'll get time off. And, yes, I know that she really meant that she's going to compel him into letting her off work and not asking too many question about it, but I'm going to pretend like I don't."

"Ignorance is bliss," Damon said.

"I guess." She paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face. "What's it like, compelling people?"

"It's hard to describe." He thought for a moment. "You can actually _feel_ that you have all the control, that the other person will do whatever you want them to do. It's a powerful feeling, it's easy to let it get to your head at first. You'll see that for yourself soon enough."

"I don't know if I'll be able to do that, invade someone's mind like that." A shiver ran through her at the thought.

"To stay alive, you will," he insisted. "When the night man at the blood bank is the only thing standing between you and your survival, you'll be able to do it."

"And what's it like, getting compelled?"

"Aren't you curios today?" Damon noted. "I don't know. If I ever was compelled, which I'm thinking I probably was at some point, it was a long time ago. And I'm not even sure you remember it afterward: that's the whole point, isn't it, that the person who has been compelled doesn't remember it? Otherwise it would be completely meaningless."

"Vampires can't compel other vampires, right?" she asked, fingering her charm bracelet with vervain that she was still wearing.

"No …" He gave her a curious look. "Where are you going with this?"

Slowly, Elena undid the clasp on the bracelet and took it off, holding it out to him. "I want to know what it feels like," she said as he took the bracelet from her. "Compel me."

He frowned at her. "Are you sure about that? You don't know what I'll make you do."

"I know that you would never make me do anything I don't want to do," she replied simply. She had known that for a long time: already back before anything had happened between them she had been 'unprotected' for a while after she had taken off the necklace she had gotten from Stefan and before Damon had given her the bracelet as replacement.

"Of course I wouldn't."

"Then compel me."

After hesitating for another moment, he looked deep into her eyes, seeing them widen and feeling the control shift over to him. "Go into the bedroom," he told her, and she obediently turned and walked into the bedroom. "Lie down on the bed." She did, and he lay down next to her, still keeping eye contact.

She was just lying there, waiting for his next order. But instead, he put her bracelet back on, and she blinked, regaining the control of her own mind.

"Welcome back," he said with a smile. "Remember anything?"

She shook her head, looking a little disoriented. "Maybe a feeling of … contentment. Like I didn't have to think for myself."

"Sounds about right."

"So why did you stop?"

He ran a finger down the side of her face and then leaned in and kissed her. "Because I want you completely aware and awake for this."

* * *

**AN: So, what did you think? I thought the motorcycle thing would suit Damon – I can totally see him on one. And I honestly don't know where the compulsion thing came from: that scene just sort of wrote itself, but in the end, I really liked it, since I think it shows how much Elena really trusts Damon, so I decided to go with it. Hope you liked it … let me know!**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Not much feedback on the last chapter – I'm hoping it's because it was a bit of an in-between chapter and not because you guys are getting tired of me and my story! Though I'll keep posting either way, since this story is my baby at the moment, so … Thanks to those of you who did review! OK, so we're there – The Big Day! I hope I'll be able to convince those of you who have questioned Stefan being there and being the one to kill Elena that my way works: it's just the way I see it playing out. OK, that's all for now. I hope you like it! And lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter nineteen **

Monday dawned warm and sunny – not a single cloud dotted the deep blue summer sky. Damon frowned at the bright day while Elena finished her breakfast of pancakes and orange juice, probably the last meal she'd ever have as a human. Jenna, Alaric and Maddy had gone back to Mystic Falls last night, and Elena had made a show off complaining about how long it would take to get everything in the apartment packed up and ready for the move, so they were good to go. Jenna had been sympathetic, regretting the fact that she had to go to work and wouldn't be able to stay and help out, but said that they could come down next weekend if there was still stuff to be done then. That gave them at least five days before Jenna would start suspecting something, and Elena hoped that would be enough for her to have adjusted to her new 'life'. Or, if not, enough time to be able to come up with a likely reason to keep Jenna away.

Tearing her thoughts from possible scenarios, she got up from the table and put her plate and glass into the dishwasher. Then she turned back around to find Damon throwing yet another annoyed look out the window. "What did the sky ever do to you?" she asked amusedly.

"Nothing personally," he replied dryly, flashing her a half-smile. "I was just thinking that our timing could be better."

She sat back down opposite him at the table and looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"You're going to be very sensitive to sunlight for a while, I'm not sure know how long since it's different for everyone," he explained. "Needless to say, the middle of summer isn't the best time to do this. Anna was smart, going up north before Jeremy turned. Then again, he didn't have any protection against daylight, so we're a step ahead in that department, at least … still, I can't believe I didn't think about this before, I should have."

"So I'll wear sunglasses," Elena concluded with a shrug, not overly worried. "When you think about it, summer is actually the _perfect_ time to do this: nobody will look twice on someone wearing sunglasses in July. January, on the other hand …"

"That's true," Damon acknowledged, and the fact that he didn't even seem to pick up on her attempt to joke about the whole thing told Elena that he was probably more worried than he was letting on. "But it won't just be your eyes; your skin will be more sensitive, too. Don't you remember that I told you about that, about how it feels weird on the skin to be out in the sun? It still does to me, even if I've learned to live with it, and that's over a hundred and fifty years later. It'll be much worse for you right after the change."

She nodded. "I know. So I'll stay inside a lot, and when I have to go outside, I'll wear long sleeved tops and jeans. That helps, right?" She had noted that Jeremy wore long sleeved shirts, even when it was really warm outside, and had assumed that that was why.

"It does," he confirmed. "But not completely. I just want you to be prepared for what's going to happen, OK?"

"What else do I need to think about, oh wise one?"

"Well, there's …" He paused, obviously having picked up on her teasing tone of voice, and raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you making fun of me?"

She smiled innocently. "Maybe … what are you going to do about it?"

In a split second, he had her against the wall on the other side of the room, pinning her there with his body. "Any more smartass comments?"

"You do know that you won't be able to do this so easily soon, right?" she pointed out, not even trying to get him to let her go.

"I'll always be stronger than you," he replied. His voice was only a whisper in her ear but he still, somehow, managed to sound too smug in her opinion. "Older equals stronger, vampire rules. You'd be wise to remember that …"

"But we'll be on more equal footing," she insisted.

Damon actually kind of liked that. "I guess we will. I think I _might_ be able to get used to you being able to hold your own. _Maybe_."

"How very gracious of you." Now she pushed against his chest, trying to get out from between him and the wall. But, of course, he wouldn't budge. "Do you mind? I want to go get dressed."

"Actually, I do mind," he told her, running one hand up her thigh to the hem of the shorts she had slept in. "I prefer you like this. The less clothes, the better. In fact, if I had anything to say about it, you wouldn't be allowed to put on _any_ clothes. Ever."

"Oh really?" Elena had to admit, he painted a very nice picture. "So maybe we'll just stay inside until I get used to the sun? You, me, a bed, no clothes allowed …"

"I like the sound of that," he mumbled before covering her lips with his.

She kissed him back for a long moment, trying to store away the memory of how his lips felt against hers. She wasn't sure how much her change would actually _change_ her: everything was supposed to be more intense when you were a vampire, the senses more heightened, and that would most likely include perception of touch. Though that might not necessarily be a _bad_ thing …

After a few minutes, she pulled away, already breathing heavily. "Not that I mind, but I really do have to get dressed."

"Why?" he complained, sounding very much like a five-year-old who didn't get his way. The pout only completed the image.

"Because your brother is going to be here in …" she glanced at the clock, "… less than twenty minutes. _You_ might be comfortable parading me around in next to nothing, but _I'd_ really rather be wearing a _little_ more when he gets here, if you don't mind."

He checked his watch and saw that it was almost a quarter to eleven. "Right, didn't realize it was that late." They had decided that Stefan was going to come over at eleven: Elena wanted to 'get it over with' as she had put it the day before. Not because she was afraid she'd change her mind or anything, but because she wanted to get on with her life, and this was the next step. Also, she was on a schedule: on Saturday, she might have to see Jenna, and she wanted to be in control of her new urges before then.

Somewhat reluctantly, Damon took a step back, releasing her.

"Thank you." She gave him a quick kiss before going into the bedroom to get dressed.

Rummaging through her closet, she realized she had no idea what she was going to put on. What was appropriate to wear when you were going to 'die'? She fingered various different outfits before finally coming to the conclusion that she wanted to be comfortable more than anything. It wasn't like there was going to be an audience or anything, after all. So she grabbed her favorite jeans and a soft, long sleeved top – might as well start right away. She didn't feel like bothering with make-up, so when she had pulled a brush through her hair, she went back out into the apartment.

She was surprised to see that all the blinds were drawn, leaving the hallway and living room in semi-darkness. To get some light in there, Elena left the door to the bedroom open. "Damon?" she called, wondering what he was doing.

"In here," he called back from the kitchen, and she made her way there just in time to see him draw all the blinds in there too and then move to the extra fridge – Elena had refused point blank to keep his blood in the 'normal' fridge, where the food was – and scanning the contents with a frown on his face, his entire body emanating tension.

"What are you doing?" she asked gently, having a feeling that he could snap at sudden sounds.

"I should have gotten more blood," he muttered under his breath, probably more to himself than as an answer to her question.

She moved to his side so that she could see into the fridge too. There were probably more than fifty bags with blood in there. "I'm sure that'll be enough for … a while," she told him, but he just slammed the door shut with a little more force than necessary: Elena could hear the shelves rattling a little.

"For me, yes. But you'll be brand new, you'll need a lot of blood during the first days, I _know_ that." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "So why didn't I get more blood?"

"It's not a problem," she tried to assure him, but he just shook his head. "Hey! Look at me!" She waited until he did before she continued. "It's not a problem, OK? Stefan can get some more if I need it, don't get all worked up about it."

"_Stefan_?" he questioned with a huff. "Stefan couldn't compel anyone to save his life, let alone someone else's."

"OK, so Jeremy then," Elena concluded: she knew that feeding on human blood was preferable when you were trying to compel someone. "Or Anna. Anna knows what she's doing."

Damon nodded, a little grudgingly, at that. "I guess that's true … but I still should have thought about it."

"You can't think about everything, OK?" She wrapped an arm around his waist and took a step closer. "But you thought about everything else, right? I mean, I wouldn't have remembered to close the blinds, even though we just had that conversation ten minutes ago." She had realize that that must be what he had been doing; shutting out all the sunlight from the apartment so she wouldn't have to worry about it after the change.

"I guess," he admitted. "And you should probably take that off." He nodded at her bracelet.

"Right …" She undid the clasp on her bracelet. "Don't want to get burned by vervain the first thing I do."

He took the bracelet from her and, careful not to touch the heart with vervain in it, put it in his pocket. "I'll take the vervain out, if you still want to wear it," he offered.

"Thank you, I'd really like that. See, I never would have thought of that myself."

She could feel that he relaxed a little. "Well, you never did know what was good for you," he joked half-heartedly.

"Right, because if I did, I would have run as fast as I could the first time I met you?"

He laughed, if not sounding completely like his usual self just yet. "Exactly."

She pulled away from him so that she could look at him. "I get that this is hard for you," she started, holding up a hand when he looked like he was about to object. "But it'll be fine, I promise. When have you ever heard of a change not working out?"

He thought about that for a moment. "Never, I guess," he then admitted.

"See? It'll be fine," she repeated, just as there was a knock on the door. "And now it's show time."

Leaving Damon in the kitchen, she went to let Stefan in.

"Hey," he greeted her cheerfully when she opened the door. Like he was just coming over to hang out, watch a movie, not 'kill' his brother's girlfriend.

"Hey, come on in," she replied, just as cheerfully, and stepped aside to let him into the apartment. "Damon's in the kitchen …" she lowered her voice, though she knew that Damon would still be able to hear her, "… obsessing a little, I think."

"No, actually, Damon's right here," his voice came from behind her. "You know that I would have heard you even if I _was_ in the kitchen, right? And I am _not_ obsessing!"

She gave him an innocent smile. "Whatever you say."

He just looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment, then turned to Stefan. "Could you ask Anna to make a blood run? I don't know why, but I didn't think to get extra last time I went on a shopping spree. Tell her that I did Raleigh last week and Burlington two months ago, so she should probably hit Greensboro to be on the safe side. I haven't been there in a while."

Stefan shot Elena a look that clearly confirmed her suspicion that Damon was obsessing. "I'll talk to her, don't worry. We'll take care of everything you need, just call, OK?"

Damon nodded, without seeming to relax much.

"Let's go into the living room," Elena suggested, hoping that sitting down would make everyone – mostly meaning Damon – more comfortable.

"OK, so first thing first," Stefan started when he had sat down in an armchair and Damon and Elena on the couch. "Blood?"

Without a word, Damon bit down on his own wrist, holding it out for Elena as soon as the blood was trailing down his arm. As she covered the wound with her mouth, Elena saw Stefan's eyes widen a little, and she assumed that he had thought she would be repulsed by the idea of drinking blood. A logical assumption, she supposed, since he probably didn't know that she and Damon exchanged blood on a regular basis.

When the wound started sealing itself up again, she pulled away from Damon, thinking that this would mean the next step in the process, but he bit down on the same spot again and held out his wrist for her. "More," he said through clenched teeth.

"It doesn't take that much, she's had enough," Stefan pointed out, but Damon shot him a look that made him quiet.

"It's OK," Elena said, lowering her lips to the new wound. If it made Damon feel better, she'd do it.

"I'm not taking any chances," Damon mumbled, looking away from both Elena and Stefan. His tone of voice made it clear that the subject wasn't up for discussion, so neither of them objected when he bit his own wrist a third time.

When the wound sealed itself up yet again, Elena pulled away and gave Damon a questioning look. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then nodded.

"That should be more than enough," he said, taking a deep breath. "OK, let's do this."

Wanting to reassure him, even though she knew it would probably be pointless, Elena reached up a hand and cupped his cheek, leaning in closer to be able to really look him in the eye.

"I'll be fine," she said quietly, trying to put every ounce of emotion she felt in that moment behind the words. "This is what we want, remember? So it's what we have to do. And I'll be _fine_."

He let out a deep sigh and leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. She did the same for a moment. "I know. Doesn't mean I won't be terrified until you open your eyes again. So do try to hurry up, won't you?"

She laughed, a little shakily. "I will, promise."

"Good."

She moved so that she could brush her lips against his. "I love you."

Sliding his hand around to cup her neck, he held her close for a moment, deepening the kiss. "I love you."

Elena thought she could hear Stefan shifting a little uncomfortably in his seat – it had turned into a somewhat private moment, after all – but couldn't worry about him right now. So she stayed where she was for another long moment, trying her best to make Damon more comfortable.

When, after a few minutes, he squeezed her hand, she took that as a sign that he thought they should get on with it, and she pulled away from him.

"OK, let's do this," she said, turning around on the couch and taking a deep breath.

Slowly – as if Damon was a frightened animal that might attack at any sudden movements – Stefan moved from the armchair so that he was sitting on the coffee table right in front of Elena. She turned to face him.

"Snapping your neck is probably the fastest, and least painful, way to do it," he said in a matter-of-fact kind of voice, as if he were explaining the process of putting up a tent to a child or something.

"I know." She gave him a smile, knowing that this must be hard for him too.

"This is weird," he muttered under his breath, and she laughed.

"Really? It's just another day for me."

She heard Damon huff next to her, but didn't turn to look at him. She knew that there must be some fear in her eyes – she _was_ going to die, after all, if only briefly, and if she _wasn't_ afraid, she'd be worried – and didn't want him to add that to his own apprehension. She did, however, reach out a hand for his, and he linked his fingers with hers, squeezing them a little too hard. But she didn't complain.

"Go ahead," she told Stefan, taking another deep breath: maybe the last one she'd ever really need.

She didn't have time to react, didn't even see him move, before everything went black.

* * *

Elena slumped forward, but Damon quickly caught her, pulling her against his body, into his lap, cradling her like an infant. He pushed the hair out of her face, caressing her cheek and throat before checking for a pulse. Nothing. Which was what he had known he would find, but it still rattled him.

He knew that it wasn't real, that she would be coming back soon. Five minutes, ten, twenty – how long did it take? He couldn't for the life of him remember. But soon, definitely soon. Still, he had to feel her, had to touch her, needed her body close to his, to keep from completely panicking.

_It's not real, it's not real, it's not real_, his mind kept repeating, over and over again. It wasn't real.

Stefan watched his brother and the girl he had once loved more than his own life for a moment, then quietly got up from where he was sitting. Damon didn't even look up.

He wanted to say something – he knew how his brother must be feeling right now – but nothing came to mind. It wouldn't make a difference, anyway. Damon knew that this was necessary to get to where he and Elena wanted to be. It wouldn't help if Stefan told him that everything was going to be fine, that Elena would wake up soon and they would get their happily ever after fairytale ending. Damon knew that. All Stefan could do right now was leave them alone. He had done his part, what they needed him to do, and this, what came after, was private, not for his eyes.

He put a hand on Damon's shoulder and his brother glanced at him before returning his gaze to Elena's face, as if hoping to find some sort of sign that she was already beginning to wake up.

"I'll just get going," Stefan said quietly, somehow not wanting to disturb the calm in the room more than he had to. "Call me when … call me, OK?"

Silently, Damon nodded and, after one last look at the couple on the couch, Stefan left.

When Damon heard the front door close, he felt a flash of relief rush through him. He knew that he had asked Stefan to do this, and he was grateful that his brother had agreed, but he didn't want him around now, not for this, not when Elena woke up. This was _their_ moment, nobody else's, and especially not Stefan's.

He knew that he couldn't do anything but wait. As usual when that was the case, time seemed to move impossibly slowly. When he glanced at his watch, sure that fifteen minutes must have passed since Stefan left, it turned out that the little minute hand had only moved four times. How was that possible?

He knew that there would be no warning signs. Elena would just suddenly wake up to her new life. Still he couldn't help but try to find some sort of indication that she would be coming back soon. Didn't she just draw in a breath? Wasn't that a twitch of the fingers? But, of course, it was only his mind playing tricks on him. He looked at his watch again. Seven minutes.

She looked so peaceful. If it hadn't been for the lack of a heartbeat and breathing, she could have been asleep. And she was, really. Asleep, not dead. He had to think of it like that, or he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take it, just sitting there and waiting for her to wake up without being able to do a damn thing about it. Soon, she would open her eyes and then this would all be a memory. The past. He would never have to worry about losing her again, never wonder if, one day, she would change her mind and leave him. This was the ultimate proof of her love for him, and he would never doubt that again, not ever. She had, _literally_, died for him.

For a third time, he checked his watch. Twelve minutes.

She really should be waking up soon …

* * *

It was nothing like being unconscious, Elena mused. Yes, everything had gone black right when Stefan snapped her neck – at least she assumed that was what he had done, she hadn't had time to see – but that had only lasted for a moment. When she had been knocked unconscious by Tyler in high school, the only thing she remembered was getting thrown into the lockers, everything going black, and then waking up in the ambulance. There had been no in-between back then, it hadn't felt like any time passed from the first moment to the next, even though it did for those around her. Now, after only a few seconds – or at least she thought it was a few seconds, she wasn't sure – she became aware of strong arms around her, of being held against a familiar body, of fingers touching her face, throat, neck, lingering on the spot where the flow of her blood would be the strongest. _Damon_, her mind supplied, and she smiled. Though probably just on the inside, it didn't seem like her muscles were working at the moment. She tried wriggling her fingers, then her toes. Nope, nothing happened.

"I'll just get going," a voice, a little further away than she knew Damon's would be, said. _Stefan_, her mind told her. Right. "Call me when … call me, OK?"

Stefan was leaving. She should say goodbye to him, thank him. But she already knew that she couldn't move, and it turned out she couldn't speak either. Granted, she didn't try very hard: she was very content right here, in Damon's arms. _Later_, she thought a little drowsily. They had all the time in the world now, after all.

Slowly, other sounds started making themselves known, and her curiosity was piqued. How far would she be able to hear with her new and improved senses? Right next to her there was a slow, even sound that she soon identified as Damon's breathing. She would recognize that sound anywhere. A little further away there was the sound of birds singing and a car starting in the parking lot below. Nothing she wouldn't have been able to hear half an hour ago … or had it been longer? She wasn't sure. But vampires were supposed to have super hearing, weren't they? So shouldn't she be able to hear … the wind rustling the leaves of the tree just outside the window, people talking in the apartment on the floor below, maybe even the cars on the I85, half a mile away?

Tentatively, she tested her other senses too. Sight was, of course, out of the question since she hadn't quite figured out how to open her eyes yet. She couldn't breathe, either, but there were still some smells that crept into her nostrils without needing any help. The scented candles on the coffee table, warm apple pie, black cherry and fresh cotton. They were still subtle, not any stronger than they had been before. Her head was resting against Damon's chest, and she could smell the cologne she'd bought for him on his birthday – Acqua di Gio, her favorite. She tried to pick up something else but the not being able to breathe thing didn't exactly help. She hoped that, when she had finally figured out how to move again, she would be able to catch more elusive scents though, since her hearing hadn't improved as far as she could tell, she was starting to doubt it. Wouldn't it be just typical if she was the only vampire without super senses? Just her luck …

This was getting old really fast. She could feel Damon touching her, every couple of minutes running his hand across her forehead, down her neck, to her wrist. He was probably checking for a pulse, though she wouldn't have one from now on. Force of habit. She knew he must be worried – was it supposed to take this long? – and desperately tried to give him some sort of sign that she was really OK, that she was still in there. But she couldn't.

She wasn't sure how long it had been when she realized she was able to breathe again – it could have been minutes, it could have been hours – and she drew in a deep breath, not because she needed to, but to test out what it felt like. A little weird. She could feel the air filling her lungs, and it brought a sense of relief to her body, even if she knew that she didn't technically need it anymore. But no new scents, unfortunately.

As she breathed in, she both felt and heard Damon do the same. "Elena?" he said quietly, touching her cheek. She wanted to reply, tell him that, yes, she was OK, but still couldn't open her mouth. "OK, now you're just faking it. Come on, open your eyes."

Taking another deep breath, she was finally able to open her eyes.

* * *

**AN: OK, how did I do on the change? We don't have much to go on from the show, as far as what it's like for the person going through it, so I had to improvise. I also tried to not make it too Twilight-ey, I hope I didn't. At the same time, I didn't want to just skip it and have Elena wake up not remembering anything about it, since I think it would be important. So this is what came out in the end. And how long it's supposed to take is a little sketchy too. I looked at the scene with Vickie, but that didn't really tell me much, so I had to wing that part too. I didn't think it should take too long, but not just a couple of minutes – I wanted Damon to start worrying (mean, I know). And what did you think of obsessive Damon? I thought that would be a reasonable reaction to everything that's going on ****– even if this is what he wants, Elena still has to die, and I didn't think he'd be unaffected by that – ** hope you liked that part. And, finally, how did I do on not making Stefan a part of the private experience that Elena changing really is for her and Damon? I tried to make him just a tool, the means to an end, and I hope I succeeded … please let me know what you thought! Though we're not completely done yet, of course. Still the last part of the transformation left, and then Elena has to get used to her new life. That's going to be fun, I think. OK, done now, let me know what you thought!


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Wow, I got great feedback on the last chapter – 20 reviews, I think that might be a new record for this story, and it brings the total to almost 200. Thank you guys so much, you're the best! I'm so glad you liked my take on Elena changing and Stefan's part in it – especially **_**Kat**_**, who was so skeptical beforehand: I'm really glad you liked it! Not really noticing Stefan's presence was pretty much what I was going for. And I'm glad you guys seemed to like worried-Damon, I really don't think he'd be able to be totally cool about it. **_**clashcityrocker083**_**: I know what you mean about the scene where we get to see Stefan and Damon changing, and it seemed to take longer, but then Vickie's change didn't take very long at all. I chose to believe that it's different for everyone. Plus, I didn't want to put Damon through waiting for hours before he'd know that Elena was OK, so I went with the quicker version! And the fact that Elena was aware of what was going on was really because I didn't want it to be just from Damon's point of view. OK, that's all about the last chapter. Now for some practical details: I know I said that I was trying to get back to my usual updating schedule, but that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to Amsterdam on a holiday with my mom and sister, so I won't be able to update until the weekend at the earliest. Sorry! And, finally, I have to comment on the season finale. I don't want to say too much in case someone hasn't seen the episode yet, but oh, the possibilities for us Delena lovers … definitely looking forward to the next season, which I'm guessing won't start airing until September at the earliest, which sucks! And season two won't be released on DVD until the end of August, so that won't be any help either. I'll probably have to keep this story going or start on another sequel just to be able to deal with the withdrawal during the summer. OK, now I'm done with my ranting. As always, thanks to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578, for her help!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter twenty **

Damon wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to just sit there without doing something. He didn't think it should take this long, Elena should already have woken up. What if something had gone wrong, despite his precautions? Sure, his perception of time wasn't completely normal at the moment, but still ...

But, before he had the chance to completely panic, he heard her draw in a breath, saw her chest rise as the now unneeded air filled her lungs and then fall as it left them.

"Elena?" he said tentatively, not wanting to scare her, and touched her cheek. He had a vague memory of how overwhelming it had been, waking up. Over the past couple of weeks, he had tried to remember more, what had come between the time when their father shot him and Stefan and the time when he woke up again, to be able to tell Elena what to expect, but he hadn't been able to. No sounds, no light, nothing like that. Maybe there wasn't anything to remember, maybe it all just went black and then he woke up. He did have a vague memory of being _aware_, at least, even if there hadn't really been anything to be aware _of_, but that was about it.

She didn't respond to his voice, but he was positive that she could hear him. "OK, now you're just faking it," he tried a joke. "Come on, open your eyes."

He was sure that it had worked, that she was OK, but he still needed to see her open her eyes, smile at him. Tell him that she was fine and how silly he had been, worrying like that.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she took another breath and opened her eyes. Relief immediately washed over him.

"Hey there," he said with a smile. "How're you feeling?"

She frowned, as if needing to think about his question for a moment. "I don't know," she finally replied. "Not as different as I was expecting."

She moved a little, and he let her get out of his lap and sit down on the couch next to him. All the while, she was looking around the room curiously. She raised one hand, as if to run through her hair, but froze in mid-air and turned it this way and that, a concentrated look on her face as she watched it.

"Haven't we all tried to tell you that it's not that big a deal?" Damon wondered with an attempt at his usual smirk. He didn't think he quite succeeded, though: the relief that Elena was OK was still too overwhelming.

"Yeah, but …" She slowly turned her head this way and that, pausing to stare hard at the bookcase across the room. "I thought I'd have all these new and improved super senses, you know? I can't even read the book titles from here, and my hearing's still the same and there are no new smells, as far as I can tell. It's a bit of a letdown, honestly. I mean, why should I be the only one who didn't get all that?"

"That's because the change isn't complete yet," he told her, getting up from the couch. "You can't expect all the vampire benefits without really _being_ one, you know, and you haven't passed the final examination yet."

"Right!" she exclaimed, understanding what the problem was. The last stage of the transformation process: blood.

"Be right back." He left the living room and went into the kitchen, opening the fridge.

At the sound, Elena felt her stomach rumble. "Hurry up, I'm starving," she called after him, impatiently tapping her fingers against the coffee table. She knew that it was her body craving the only sustenance it would really need from now on – blood – but still she scanned the room in search of something, anything, edible.

A moment later, he came back into the room, a mug in his hands. "I didn't think you'd be able to wait until I warmed it up for you," he said, handing her the mug.

She took it from him impatiently, but then ended up just staring into the dark red liquid in it.

Damon sat down next to her on the couch again. "You OK?" he asked after a moment, when she still hadn't made any move to drink the blood. "You know you're gonna have to do a little more than just _look_ at it, right?"

"I know, and I'm fine," she replied, though not completely truthfully. She'd had blood before – just a little while ago, even – but this … it just wasn't the same. It had always been _Damon's_ blood, a connection between the two of them, something private, intimate. This was the blood of some stranger, a person she didn't know and would, most likely, never meet.

"It's not as disgusting as it looks," Damon tried to encourage her, but Elena shook her head.

"It's not that, it actually looks really good." As she said it, she realized it was the truth, and her mouth started to water. Involuntarily, she licked her lips.

"Then what's the problem?" he wondered.

"I just … it feels weird," she offered as an explanation. "I mean, _you're_ the only one I've ever had blood from … this is …"

He took the mug from her and put it down on the table, getting up from the couch and kneeling in front of her. "I get it, OK?" he said, taking her hands in his. "It's new, weird. And if it were possible, you could definitely have my blood to complete the change. But it doesn't work like that, it has to be human blood, you know that. So you're going to have to learn how to separate the two." He picked up the mug again and held it up in front of her. "From now on, this is what you'll need to survive. This is your main food source. We'll still exchange blood when we want to, that's not going to change, but that's not the same thing as this. I never saw you as meal when I drank your blood before, OK? Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

Elena nodded. She thought she did. And she had known that before too, really. She had never even entertained the thought that he might consider her as a food source – she knew that him drinking from her was something completely different, something sexual. Tentatively, she took the mug again, raising it to her lips before she could change her mind.

The blood didn't taste exactly like it used to. It was more … appetizing, there was something else to it than the salty and metallic taste which was the most prominent thing she remembered about it. It made her want more, and she greedily took another deep gulp.

She could feel Damon's eyes on her as she finished every drop of blood in the mug. When she was done, she licked her lips and looked up at him. The smile on his face made her entire body warm.

"Feeling better?" he asked, taking the mug from her.

She nodded: she did feel better, less hungry. But still not completely full. "Can I have some more?" she asked tentatively, and he laughed.

"You can have as much as you want," he told her, again getting up and going into the kitchen. She heard the fridge door open and close, then the sound of him ripping the bag open and, a moment later, how he put the mug in the microwave: the low but unmistakable sound of the ceramic mug hitting the glass plate. Maybe her senses were starting to sharpen a little …

A minute later, Damon came back into the room and gave her the mug again. "Not quite ninety-eight-point-six, but I think it'll do," he said as she brought the mug to her lips again.

It was better like this, warm, she thought as she drained the mug. She could taste something else in the blood this time, something … a little spicy, almost. "Did you put something in this?" she asked Damon when she had emptied the mug.

He shook his head. "That'll be version two-point-oh of your sense of taste," he explained. "Most vampires can tell the difference between the blood types, some even have preferences since they don't actually taste exactly the same. This is A positive, it was the kind they had the most of at the blood bank last time I was there. I try to avoid taking the ones they don't have that much of, and never O, since that's still, at least in emergencies, considered to be the universal donor."

Elena listened curiously, never having guessed that he put so much thought into the whole thing. "Blood bank robbing one-oh-one," she then said. "For some reason they didn't offer that at Duke, so thanks."

He laughed, a little relieved that she was feeling well enough to be able to joke about it. "Yeah, you'll have to take that up with the Dean. Don't graduates get to fill out some sort of evaluation of their four years at the school? That would be _perfect_."

"Because they wouldn't think I was crazy _at all_." She put the mug down on the table and inhaled deeply. Immediately, a scent that was anything but pleasant filled her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?" She looked around her, trying to identify the source.

"What smell?" Damon asked.

"It's too sweet, sickly, and way too artificial."

He thought for a moment, drawing in a deep breath himself to be able to pinpoint what it might be that was unpleasant to her, then picked up one of the scented candles from the table. Black cherry. Elena carefully sniffed the candle, and then shied away from it. "Yeah, that's it. How have you been able to stand that smell?"

He shrugged. "It'll get better in a couple of weeks, I think. Maybe months, I'm not sure. Your senses are extremely sensitive just after the change. Are the other candles OK?"

She leaned over the table and took a careful whiff of each remaining candle – fresh cotton and warm apple pie. The fresh cotton one smelled fine, and the apple pie one better than anything she had ever experienced before. She picked up the candle and leaned back on the couch with it, taking another deep breath filled with the delicious scent.

"I take it that's a favorite," Damon assumed with a laugh.

"Mmmm," she agreed, closing her eyes and letting the scent wash over her. She found that she had no problem shutting the other smells in the room out, which was a relief. After a moment, her stomach started to growl in response to the wonderful aroma from the candle.

"On it," Damon said before she had a chance to ask for more blood, and took the cherry candle with him to the kitchen to throw away. She realized that her body probably wouldn't want anything other than blood at the moment, even if it had been the smell of apple pie that had made her mouth water. She'd have time to explore her sense of taste later, when her body had gotten used to the change.

Curious about her new sense of smell, Elena put the candle down on the table and tried to pick up the smell of blood in the kitchen as Damon poured it into her mug. She found that she could – it smelled almost exactly like it tasted, a little spicy – and she also found another scent she liked. She couldn't place it: it was exhilarating, tempting and also mysterious and – she thought it sounded ridiculous, but couldn't find another label for it – a little dark, dangerous.

As Damon came back into the living room, the scent came with him, and Elena realized it was coming _from_ him. It wasn't the perfume he was wearing but came from _him_, beneath the smell of the cologne.

"Here you go." He handed her the mug with blood, but she immediately put it down on the table, leaning in closer to be able to smell him better. "Or we could do _that_. Which is what exactly?"

She didn't respond right away, but buried her face against his neck, her entire body getting overwhelmed by the new, exciting smell of him. This was so much better than the smell of the apple pie candle, or even the smell of blood. She felt like she could just sit there, drinking it in, for hours. "You smell …" she finally said, reluctantly pulling away. "I don't know how to describe it."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. We pick up a whole other range of scents, somehow underneath all the artificial perfumes and whatnot. I guess that's what the scientists call pheromones. The essence of a person, sort of."

Elena liked that, how she was a part of the _we_ now, no longer an outsider looking in. "How do I smell to you?" she asked curiously.

"You smell warm, like a summer day, fresh, like the ocean, and just a little bit adventurous," he replied, running a finger down the side of her face.

Automatically, her eyes slid shut and she leaned into his touch. She knew that, had her heart still been pumping her blood around her body, it would have first skipped a beat and then picked up its pace.

The feel of his finger against her skin was almost electric, so intensified she could barely remember what it had been like when he touched her before. It couldn't have been anything like this: she was pretty sure her human body wouldn't have been able to handle it.

She expected him to continue his explorations down her neck, but, to her disappointment, he pulled away from her instead. Her eyes popped open and she frowned at him.

He smiled, a little too smugly in her opinion. "Aren't you hungry?" he wondered.

She smiled and licked her lips suggestively. "Sure I am."

Shaking his head amusedly, he held up the mug with blood in front of her. "I _was_ referring to this, gutter brain."

Elena's eyes narrowed and she bit her lip, torn. Part of her wanted to grab the mug and gulp down the content while the other part wanted to knock it out of his hand and, if necessary, drag him into the bedroom so she could have her way with him …

"Just this one," he coaxed, probably sensing her inner turmoil. "Just finish this blood, and then we can do whatever you want."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "_Whatever_ I want?"

Damon laughed. "_Whatever_ you want."

Impatiently, she took the mug from him, intent on finishing off the blood so that they could move on to more … interesting activities. But, mug halfway to her mouth, something occurred to her, and she paused.

"What?" he wondered, frowning at her.

"Shouldn't I … I mean, shouldn't my teeth … you know?"

He laughed. "In the beginning, that part's pretty much automatic, you can't really control it, that comes with time and practice. But, yeah, I would have thought that the blood would do it for you. Maybe your brain hasn't completely made the connection between blood and food yet, or maybe it's the fact that it's from a bag and not straight from the source, I don't know. But don't worry, you'll get it."

Focusing back on the mug in her hand, Elena took a long drink, letting the flavor wash over her. The blood was delicious, there was no doubt about that, and it was surprisingly easy not to think about the fact that it had come from an actual living, breathing human being, even now, when Damon had mentioned it.

When the mug was empty once again, she put it down on the table and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, opening up her senses completely, trying to extend them as far as she could.

The smell of Damon next to her, the scented candles on the table, the table itself, the wood in it, the leather of the couch. And more distant smells: her shampoo and conditioner and the soap in the bathroom, the air freshener in the hallway, the flowers in the kitchen, the fresh scent of the newly cut lawn and the trees outside, someone making coffee in an apartment on the second floor … she could keep going through the different smells for hours, but didn't have the patience for it, so she moved on to the sounds instead. Damon's breathing, slow and even, beside her, the clock on the wall ticking away the seconds of her new life, the hum of the air conditioner … a buzzing sound, probably from a fly or something, just outside the living room window, cars passing on the street, music from the floor below theirs. Opening her eyes, she again tried to read the titles on the books in the bookcase, twenty feet away. No problem this time. She glanced around the room quickly, but since the windows were covered there wasn't really anything else she could test her eyesight out on at the moment. And the lights were on, so no way to know how well she could see in the dark.

"Having fun?" Damon asked next to her, and her eyes snapped to his face.

"Just … evaluating my new senses," she replied.

He flashed her that quick smile she loved so much. "How about we do a little exploration after the sun sets?" he suggested. "You can try out your new and improved night vision, and if we head out into the countryside, we won't have to worry about being seen, so I could beat you in a race or something."

"Aren't you sure of yourself," Elena noted, though she knew that he was probably right. Like he had said earlier – was it just an hour ago? It felt much longer – he would always be stronger than her, since older equaled stronger in the vampire world. "Besides …" she leaned in closer, eyes intent on his face, "… I thought we had decided to … stay inside for a couple of days."

For a split second, his eyes widened infinitesimally, something she knew she wouldn't have been able to catch before. "Well … if that's what you want …" he tried to sound casual, but she could hear a hint of desire in his voice.

"What I want right now …" she started, reaching out to run a finger along his bottom lip, the need to touch him getting the better of her, "… is you."

Again, there was that electricity between them. It felt sort of like the small shock she sometimes got when touching the car after getting out of the driver's seat, static electricity, but … arousing in a completely new way.

Damon pulled her finger into his mouth, biting it gently, and she sucked in a sharp breath. He released her finger and, eyes burning into hers, leaned in to kiss her, just once, very lightly. The electricity that had already been humming between them exploded, and Elena instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to keep him there. In response, his arms snuck around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. The tentative kiss turned into something much more, and he tugged on her top, unable to get it off without either tearing it, which he knew she wouldn't like, or pulling away from her to slip it over her head, which really wasn't an option at the moment. So he settled for sliding his hands in underneath the fabric and up her sides, making her skin burn everywhere he touched her.

Despite not actually needing the oxygen, Elena found herself gasping for breath after a couple of minutes, and reluctantly tore her lips from his. He took the opportunity to get rid of her annoying top, throwing it across the room. While he was at it, he unhooked her bra and let it join the top, before pushing her down on the couch.

"I thought _I_ was the one in charge," she complained, half-heartedly and breathlessly. He liked that he could still take her breath away, despite the fact that she didn't have to breathe anymore. "That we were going to do whatever _I_ wanted."

He leaned over her, pinning her hands over her head with one of his – she didn't struggle to get free, which she probably could – and slid his other hand up her side. "Tell me to stop, and I will," he told her, flicking her nipple with his thumb. Her eyes slid closed and her back arched against him and, with a smile, he leaned down to pull her other nipple into his mouth, getting a low groan in return.

His thumb against her nipple sent a wave of lust through Elena's entire body, and when his mouth covered her other nipple, she thought she could actually _feel_ the desire course through her, from the spot where their bodies touched to every single part of her, head, fingers, toes … she felt the skin around her eyes tighten and then an odd feeling in her mouth. It wasn't uncomfortable, not at all, just … very different. She drew in a breath, her eyes snapped open and she pulled her hand free to touch one of her new fangs with her finger. It was sharp and easily pierced her skin, leaving one small drop of blood on her fingertip.

Damon had pushed himself up and was watching her. "There we go," he mumbled. "Thought that might do the trick."

An image flickered through Elena's head: Stefan's face changing like this the first time they … but, no, she _definitely_ wasn't going to think about him right now. She easily pushed the thought away and focused on Damon above her.

"Sexual tension," he said as explanation, probably realizing she was about to ask.

"But you don't …" she started. He didn't change unless he was going to bite her.

"I've had time to learn how to control it," he replied, his tongue darting out to lick up the tiny drop of blood that was the only remnant of the small cut on her fingertip. She drew in a breath of pleasure. "You'll get there too. But I have to say I like I like it … knowing that I can make you lose control like that." As if to demonstrate his point, he trailed one hand along the inside of her unfortunately still denim-covered thigh, making her moan.

"Like you didn't already know that," she gasped when he kissed a spot behind her ear.

"Still nice to get confirmation," he mumbled against her skin, continuing down her neck and shoulders towards her chest and stomach.

She hummed a little incoherently, relaxing back against the couch cushions and just letting herself _feel_ it – feel him touching her, kissing her, loving her. But when he reached her jeans and unbuttoned them, she made an effort to raise herself up on one elbow.

"One of us is still _way_ too overdressed for this," she pointed out, eyeing his shirt and jeans, which were still very much in place.

Without hesitating, Damon ripped the buttons open on his shirt and tossed it across the room, her jeans and underwear soon following it. He reached for the button in his jeans, but she grabbed his hands.

"Let me," she suggested, pushing him down on the couch.

He leaned back. "By all means."

She moved up his body slowly, letting her hair trail over his chest, something she knew that he loved. Sure enough, she heard him draw in a ragged breath before she leaned down to kiss him. As their tongues battled, she fumbled to get his pants undone, finally succeeding in getting the zipper down. She couldn't get his pants off, though, so she sat up to let him do that part himself.

When the jeans were out of the way, he reached for her. "Come here."

She slipped out of his grasp and got up from the couch. "Catch me first," she replied with a smile and took off towards the hallway and bedroom.

It barely felt like her feet were touching the floor, she was moving so fast. Still, he caught up with her before she even got out of the living room. She shrieked when he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, carrying her in front of him towards the bedroom. The door was half-closed, and she kicked it open.

The door banged against the wall and then slammed shut.

"Oops." She giggled.

"Seems like you don't quite know your own strength yet," Damon said amusedly, putting her down on the floor.

"I guess not." She opened the door more gently and they both went into the room.

Where the door had slammed against the wall, there was a dent the size and shape of a doorknob.

"I guess we're not getting that safety deposit back," he noted with a shrug.

Elena rolled her eyes and turned around to face him, taking a step closer. "Are you _trying_ to ruin the mood?"

He raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "You're the one who kicked a hole in the wall."

"Not intentionally!"

"Maybe I'd better keep an eye on you, make sure you don't break the furniture or something."

Her eyes narrowed. "Do you want me to use my strength on _you_ instead?"

Experimentally – she honestly didn't expect it to work – she tried to push him down on the bed. To her astonishment, he fell backwards with a slightly surprised look on his face.

"See?" she said smugly, moving on top of him. "I can take you."

In an instant, he flipped them around. "You caught me off guard," he defended himself, pinning her hands above her head and kissing her neck.

"Oh yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

Tentatively, Elena tried to move her hands, something that, only a few hours ago, would have been impossible. She could still feel that he was stronger than her, but she thought she could get free if she really wanted to. But testing her new strength wasn't what she was interested in at the moment, and soon, the thought was pushed to the back of her mind as Damon's hand travelled down her body, making her forget everything else. Everywhere he touched her felt like it had been lit on fire, in a good way that she had never experienced before and couldn't quite explain. All she knew was that she never wanted it to stop.

She squirmed a little underneath him on the bed, getting her legs out from under his and pushing herself against him, trying to show him that she wanted more, _needed_ more. The feeling in her body was so intense it almost overwhelmed her: it was like every inch of her craved him, that intimacy and togetherness that only existed between them when they were _really_ together, in every sense of the word.

He abandoned the path down her chest he had been exploring with his mouth and pushed himself up on one elbow, his other hand sliding along her thigh and pulling her leg around his waist. Then, eyes intent on hers – as if he wanted to watch her, see her reaction – he pushed into her.

It was so much more, so much deeper, than anything she had ever experienced before. Not only the physical contact – which was, of course, intensified because of her new, heightened sense of touch – but the emotional connection, too. As he started moving inside her, Elena was sure that she could feel their souls, their very essences, touching and mingling somewhere inside them.

The word 'soul mate' suddenly had a new, and much more real, meaning to her.

* * *

**OK: So exploring her new senses a little … what did you think? There will be more exploration in the next couple of chapters, Elena testing out her new strength and speed, but this is it for now. I promise to update as soon as I can and, until then, please let me know what you thought!**


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: I'm back! Unfortunately, that also means that I have to get back to work on my master's paper, which is due in a couple of weeks, so this story is going to have to be on the back burner for a little while. I hope you can be patient with me: I **_**will**_** finish it! That said, thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, I'm glad you liked it. **_**Kittenkatje**_**: I did have a great time in Amsterdam, it's an amazing city! And fun to know I have readers in the Netherlands too! **_**notashamedtobe**_**: yup, they have pigeons in Amsterdam – lots of them, and most of them seem to be a little suicidal. A few times, I really thought I was going to get attacked by one, they kept swooping down over us … kinda scary. **_**SweetWillowTree**_**: I have actually read the VD books, but I honestly don't remember the soul mingling thing. Maybe it was somewhere in my subconscious and it just popped up when I was writing … And now we're moving on with Elena's adaptation to her new 'life'. Not quite to the point where she's going out among people yet, but you know Jeremy and Stefan won't be able to stay away for too long! Lastly, thanks to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578, for her help with the chapter! I hope I managed to do what you suggested …**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter twenty-one**

Elena jerked awake when an annoying sound filled the bedroom. At first, she was a little disoriented, but then her eyes quickly adapted to the darkness and she could see, clear as if it had been daylight in the room, Damon reaching for his cell phone on the bedside table. She could even see the annoyance in his eyes and the way his lips were pressed together, telling her that he, too, had been woken up by the ringing.

"Yeah?"

Still not completely awake, she ignored his conversation and pulled the cover up over her head, relaxing against the pillows. But she couldn't go back to sleep: there were too many sounds, too many smells, too many impressions trying to get her attention, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shut them out. Then again, she also wanted to explore her new senses and abilities, so that might be why her brain refused to let her go back to sleep.

Tossing the cover aside, she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table: a quarter after one in the afternoon. She wasn't sure how late it had been when they had finally succumbed to sleep during the night. They had spent most of the afternoon and evening in bed, only interrupted by occasional trips to the bathroom and more frequent blood breaks. She couldn't believe how much blood her body could actually hold, it was like there was no limit to how much she could drink, and after she'd had a bag or two, she was only 'full' for an hour or so. Damon had assured her that this was normal right after the change, and that her body would adapt to the new habits soon – she sure hoped it would. So it hadn't been until Damon looked at the clock that they had realized that it was after midnight. Still, it had been a while before they actually gave up their more interesting activities to get some sleep – like with the blood, she couldn't get enough of him and the other way around. Even now, there was a battle going on inside her: one part wanting to stay in bed with Damon – it was the middle of the day, which meant daylight, so she couldn't actually _do_ much since she couldn't go outside – the other wanting to get up and get some blood and then have some fun with her new senses and strength.

She had more or less tuned Damon's conversation out, but she thought he was talking to Stefan and assumed that he was calling to make sure everything had gone according to plan. They probably should have updated both him and Jeremy yesterday, but they had been a little distracted …

The curtains in the bedroom blacked out the sun completely, and they were of course drawn over the windows, leaving the room in darkness. But there was a small sliver of light making its way into the room between the curtains and, somehow, it drew her to it. Like a magnet or something. She wanted to see if it was really as bad as Damon had said – would she really need to stay out of the sunlight for days, maybe weeks? – and she also wanted to test out Bonnie's spell on her engagement ring.

She glanced at Damon – who was still on the phone and was starting to look more than a little impatient – and then slipped out of bed, moving across the room deliberately slowly. Tentatively, she held her hand in the small ray of sunlight, waiting for a reaction. Her skin didn't start smoking or anything, at least, so she was satisfied that the ring was doing its job. There was a slight tingle in her skin, a little like when your arm or foot falls asleep, but it wasn't really all that uncomfortable. Hesitating for a brief moment, she then pulled the curtains apart.

She was glad that she moved much faster now than she did before, because the pain in her eyes was almost unbearable and she instinctively covered them with her hands. Though that only moved the pain to her hands, and the rest of her skin, since she wasn't wearing anything and her entire body was exposed to the suddenly ruthless sun. For a moment, she wondered if maybe the ring wasn't working at all, and then the light disappeared.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Damon demanded next to her, and she carefully removed her hands from her eyes so that she could look at him. He still had the phone in his hand and was staring at her exasperatedly.

"I just … I wanted to try out the ring, and I wanted to see if the sunlight really was as bad as you said it was," she replied, voice small, and looked down at her hands to see if there were any burns on them. But the pain hadn't left any marks as far as she could see, and it had disappeared as soon as the light stopped touching her skin.

"Right, because taking my word for it just wasn't good enough, huh?" He crossed his arms over his chest, giving her an irritated look. But, even with him obviously annoyed with her, she couldn't help but notice that they were both still completely naked.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, taking a step closer and looking up at him through her eyelashes. "I was just … curious, I guess. Everything's so new, I want to explore it."

He sighed and relaxed a little, and she took the opportunity to move even closer and wrapping her arms around his waist. To her surprise, he took a step back.

"Is this some sort of punishment?" she asked amusedly. She could, literally, count the times he had turned down the opportunity of sex in the past five years on the fingers of one hand.

"Right." He rolled his eyes, but went over to the dresser and pulled on a t-shirt.

"Then what? Did I wear you out last night?"

He huffed. "Never." Digging around in another drawer, he found a pair of jeans as well. "But we have guests coming over soon, and I didn't think you'd want to be naked when they got here. If you do, I'm completely OK with that, just say the word … it might actually make them _leave_ sooner, so I'm all for it, actually."

"Oh." Following his example, she went over to the closet and found a sun dress that she pulled over her head. "Stefan wouldn't take your word that everything went OK?"

"No, he believed me," Damon replied. "But I guess both he and Jeremy want to see you for themselves, make absolutely sure."

"I guess that's not surprising," she said, remembering how she had felt back when Jeremy had turned: on a logical level, she had known that he was OK, but she had still needed to see him for herself before she could really believe it.

"Yeah," he agreed grudgingly, and she laughed.

"Come on, they'll be here for an hour, tops," she told him, finding a pair of underwear and pulling them on. "Then we'll be all by ourselves again. And I bet it'll be _days_ before I can even leave the apartment …"

That seemed to cheer him up again. "I like the sound of _that._" He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her hair.

She relaxed against him, letting out a deep breath. "Mmm."

They stood like that for a moment.

"So the ring works," he then said. "Not that I didn't think it would."

"Yeah, Bonnie knows what she's doing," Elena agreed. "It won't always be that uncomfortable, being in the sun, right? You said that it was worse right after the change."

"Yeah, it'll get better in a couple of weeks, as far as I can remember," he replied. "You still won't be completely at ease, but you get used to the slight discomfort after a while, more or less. It's like living next to the railways: after a couple of years, you barely even hear the trains passing by anymore."

She laughed and then, reluctantly, stepped out of his embrace. "Nice analogy."

Her movement put her in front of the mirror, and she frowned at her reflection.

"What, are you disappointed you show up in it?" Damon asked with a laugh. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but that part's a myth."

"No, I knew that," she responded, running a hand through her messy hair. "It's just that I look like I just rolled out of bed. And _not_ after a good night's sleep, if you know what I mean."

He laughed again. "So? That _is_ what happened. Or don't you remember last night? Do you need me to remind you?"

Elena rolled her eyes and grabbed a hairbrush from the dresser. "Trust me, I remember. But I don't have to look the part, at least not when my brother is coming over."

"I think it's _possible_ that he's figured out that you're not as innocent as you might want people to think," Damon said dryly.

"Can you just go put on some coffee or something?" she asked exasperatedly. "I need to wake up, and I apparently don't have time for a shower."

"Nope, you don't. My guess is they'll be here within five minutes."

"Then I'm going to have to do my best with the time I have," she said, going into the bathroom.

"You want some company in there?" his voice came through the open door.

"Coffee!"

"Alright, alright."

She heard him leave the bedroom and then the sound of a cupboard opening and closing in the kitchen and the coffee maker being switched on. The wonderful aroma of coffee wafted into the bathroom, making her mouth water. A moment later, she heard him open the fridge, and then the smell of blood filled the air, making her stomach grumble as well.

After having untangled her hair as best she could, she hurried to apply a little basic make-up, making her look a tad bit more alive – she couldn't help but laugh out loud at the thought – and then left the bathroom, following the delicious smell of blood into the kitchen.

When Damon saw her enter the room, he pushed a button on the microwave, and the mug with blood started rotating on the glass plate. Elena pouted.

"You didn't have to heat it up," she complained, sitting down at the table.

"The sooner you get used to having to wait a few moments before you can eat, the better it'll be," he replied. "Part of the self-control lesson. If you're used to getting food at the drop of a hat, you're more likely to attack a random passer-by in the street when you get hungry."

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "Oh."

"Not that you're going to do that," he continued. "Unless you want to. It's not too late to go rogue, you know. We could have a _lot_ of fun tonight, you just have to say the word." His voice dropped to a whisper. "The army of do-gooders would never have to know."

She was more or less positive that he was joking, but still looked up at him to make sure. The look on his face didn't really convince her either way, but she chose to believe that he was.

"I think I'll pass if it's all the same to you," she said lightly.

"Oh, well, too bad," he replied half-heartedly, shrugging as the microwave dinged. He took the mug from it and put it down on the table in front of her. "Milady's breakfast is served."

"Why thank you, how very kind of you."

"Yeah, yeah." He took another blood bag from the fridge and popped the entire thing into the microwave. He didn't like drinking from a mug, he preferred his blood straight from the bag.

Just when Elena put the mug down on the table after having finished the contents – Damon had finished his bag much faster and was just downing the last of the coffee he had moved on to – there was a knock on the door. Elena immediately made to get up from the table, but Damon put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place.

"What?" she wanted to know.

"Windows in the staircase," he replied, going to open the door himself.

"Right." So many things to think about.

She hadn't thought to listen for footsteps or voices before – it seemed like her mind was, seemingly automatically, shutting out the sounds that she wasn't actively listening for – but now she strained her ears and could hear Anna's voice outside the front doorm, clear as if she had been in the same room. She couldn't hear what the other girl said, though, because the sound of Damon opening the door drained her voice out a moment later.

"Hey guys, come on in."

"Is she OK?" Jeremy's slightly concerned voice floated into the kitchen.

"I'm fine, Jere," Elena called back, forgetting that he would be able to hear her if she whispered. An instant later he appeared in the doorway, a relieved look spreading on his face when he saw her.

"Hey there, how are you feeling?" he asked, taking a seat opposite her at the table.

"Fine," she replied immediately, without really thinking about it. "I mean, everything's a little … much right now – the sounds, the smells – but other than that, I'm OK."

He laughed. "Yeah, I remember that part. It'll pass soon."

"See? Everything went fine," Damon said, following Anna, Stefan and Abby into the kitchen. "Don't you think I would have called if something had gone wrong?"

Stefan ignored him and gave Elena a scrutinizing look. "You OK?"

She smiled at him. "I'm fine, honestly."

"I've been trying to tell him that all morning," Abby piped in, sitting down next to Elena. "Finally I just suggested going over here so that he could see for himself. Seemed to be the only way to stop him from glancing at the phone every few minutes and muttering about why Damon hadn't called yet."

"Which I thought you said you were going to do when I was here yesterday?" Stefan pointed out, turning to Damon.

"Did I?" Damon frowned. "Sorry, don't remember that part."

Stefan nodded knowingly. "I get it, you were a little … preoccupied at the time."

Damon smirked. "Oh, we've _definitely_ been too preoccupied to think about calling you, baby brother."

Elena buried her face in her hands.

"OK, not what I was referring to," Stefan said. "And I don't think we want to hear it."

Damon shrugged unconcernedly. "Suit yourself." He left the kitchen and went into the living room, turning the TV on and flopping down on the couch.

"Sorry about that," Elena apologized.

"No worries, we're all adults here," Abby assured her, squeezing her hand. "Or, well, sort of. And I get it: everything's new for you, there's so much to explore. And it's not like you can go outside, so you'll have to make do with … indoor activities."

Jeremy groaned. "Could we please _not_ talk about my sister's sex life?"

"Yes, please," Elena agreed.

"Did you want me to get some more blood?" Anna asked to change the subject.

Elena glanced at Damon. "Yeah, Damon doesn't think what we have will be enough, but …"

"It won't be," he interrupted her calmly from the living room. "We've already gone through a third of the stash, and we'll be cooped up here for at least another week, probably longer, with the sun being so bright this time of year. Your appetite will start to decrease soon, but unless you want to starve, I suggest getting more."

Elena rolled her eyes and both Anna and Abby stifled laughs. "Jeremy and I can take a trip to one of the hospitals in the area tomorrow, don't worry about it," Anna said, probably for Damon's benefit even if she didn't raise her voice.

"Thank you," he said. "Glad to hear that _someone's_ taking this seriously."

"I _am_ taking it seriously," Elena objected. "But you don't have to make my brother and his girlfriend run errands. I'm perfectly fine staying here for a couple of hours on my own if you want to go."

Damon huffed and got up from the couch, turning the television off and coming back into the kitchen. "Sorry, not gonna happen," he said, leaning against the counter. "You're the one who wanted to go with the bagged diet: I'm, not gonna leave you here to mess that up."

Elena's eyes widened. "You think I'd do that … if you …"

Seeing the horrified look on her face made Damon soften immediately, and he sat down on Elena's other side and took her hand. "No, of course not. I'm just being _way_ too overprotective, you know me."

She nodded uncertainly, convinced that he was just trying to make her feel better. He really did believe that she might slip up if she was left alone.

"And, anyway, it's not like you're gonna get the opportunity to even _try_ to cheat," he continued. "I'm gonna be here every second until you feel like you can handle everything. I don't care if it takes a week or a year, you hear me?"

That made her feel a little better, and she offered him a slightly week smile. "Thank you." She knew that he would never let her do something she would regret for the rest of her, hopefully, very long existence.

He squeezed her hand. "Anytime. There _are_ worse things to do than babysit you all day … alone … in a room lit only by candles." At the last couple of words, he wagged his eyebrows at her, and she couldn't help but laugh. He always knew how to make her feel a little better.

"Since we just came over to see for ourselves that you were OK, I think we're gonna take that as our cue to get going," Abby concluded, getting up from the table and squeezing Elena's shoulder. "Call if you're going crazy hanging around with this doofus all day, I'd love some girl time."

Damon rolled his eyes, but Elena offered Abby a grateful smile. She might love him, but spending twenty-four hours a day with Damon could get a little old after a couple of days. "Thanks, I'll probably take you up on that."

"Movie night, say Friday?" Abby continued. "Between Anna and me, I'm sure we can kick him out of the apartment for a few hours, and you should have had time to adapt a little by then."

"'He' is right here," Damon complained, but both Elena and Abby ignored him.

"That sounds great," Elena agreed. "You up for it too, Anna?"

"Absolutely." Anna nodded. "I could use some girl time, myself."

"Does that mean we can have a _guy's_ night?" Damon asked. "I mean, it's only fair, right?"

Abby shot him a lethal look. "I guess that depends on your definition of 'guy's night'," she replied. "As long as it doesn't involve half-naked women worming their bodies around poles, go for it."

He let out a theatrical sigh. "Isn't your mind one-tracked? I was thinking more along the line of poker and beer, but you just _had_ to go there."

Abby gave him a disbelieving look. "Sure you were. So Anna and I will be over, say around seven on Friday, and you three can have a guy's night with poker and beer at our hotel."

Damon smiled at her sweetly. "Sounds like a plan."

Abby returned the smile. "Great." She turned to Elena. "So we'll see you Friday, if you make it until then. If not, I'm only a phone call away."

Damon seemed to be about to say something, but Elena put her hand on his arm. "Thanks Abby, but I think I'll be good."

The other girl shrugged. "If you say so."

"And we'll stop by with some more blood tomorrow," Anna piped in. "You said that you'd been to Raleigh and Burlington recently, right?"

Damon nodded. "Yeah, so you should go somewhere else. There are plenty of small-town hospitals in the area, but I usually try to stick to the ones in the bigger cities. Bigger blood banks equals less chance of discovery."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I know how it works, Damon, I've done this before, remember?"

"I _remember_ you messing up and leaving a trail," he countered quickly.

"That was _years_ ago, I'm much more careful now."

"It's true," Jeremy interjected. "And I'll go with her, I'll make sure she's thorough."

"Great, Boy Wonder to the rescue," Damon muttered.

"And if you feel like getting out of the house tonight, have some fun, give me a call," Jeremy continued, ignoring Damon's comment and turning to Elena. Both Damon and Stefan laughed. "What?"

Elena frowned. "Yeah, what's so funny?"

"He's just being a typical newbie," Stefan explained. "I mean, we've all been there: after the change, when everything's new, even the smallest thing is exciting. It takes a while for that to go away."

"He's what you could call a teenaged vamp," Damon continued. "He's past the first, tricky phase when you get used to your new body, your senses and strength, learn to control yourself, but he still hasn't completely adjusted to the new life."

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest, immediately getting defensive. "So? I'm just having fun."

"They _are_ kind of right, though," Anna interjected, getting a disappointed look from Jeremy. "What? You don't think I notice that sometimes you sneak out in the middle of the night to go running or whatever it is you do?"

He looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment. "Fine, maybe I do. So?"

"So nothing," Elena said, stepping in to defend her brother. "I mean, I haven't had time to do anything yet, but I'm really looking forward to having some fun with my new abilities. So if you feel like doing some exploring tonight, I'm up for it."

"I'm not sure that's a great idea," Damon immediately piped in. "You should probably wait a few days before you go outside, even at night. It's the middle of summer, there might be people around even late, and I don't want you to get tempted."

Elena bit her lip, considering the dilemma for a moment. The last thing she wanted to do was slip up and accidentally attack someone. She knew that she'd never be able to live with something like that on her conscience. On the other hand … she was really excited to see what she could do now, and she didn't want to wait a week, or maybe even longer.

"Maybe we could all go?" she suggested. "That way you guys would be there to keep an eye on me."

Damon shot Stefan a look and they both shrugged. "That _could_ work," he allowed.

"And you guys can all have a good laugh at us 'newbies'," Jeremy said, still sounding a little annoyed.

"I think it'd be fine," Stefan agreed. "We should probably go somewhere outside the city, though. I'm not worried about you going after someone, really, more about getting seen."

"Oh." Elena hadn't even thought about that, but of course they couldn't just go out into the street. "I didn't think about that."

"Rookie mistake," Damon told her with a shrug. "Before you know it, it'll be second nature."

"So any thoughts on where to go?" Anna wondered.

Damon thought for a moment, frowning. "Eno River State Park should work," he then said. "I mean, there might be some hikers and campers around, but there are spots that are really hard to get to and as long as we wait until after midnight, it should be fine."

"OK, so time and place?" Jeremy asked, suddenly sounding eager.

"The entrance at Cole Mill Road is supposed to be open all night," Damon replied. "Let's say two A.M., just to be on the safe side. If there are any campers in the park, they'll be asleep by then."

"OK, great, see you guys tonight." Jeremy waved at Elena and he and Anna left the kitchen.

"Yeah, see you tonight," Abby repeated, pulling Stefan along in the same direction. "And … have fun until then, OK?" She winked at Elena, who looked away.

When the front door closed behind them, Damon sighed and slumped back in the chair. "I thought they'd _never_ leave," he complained.

"They were here for a total of …" Elena glanced at her watch, "… fifteen minutes."

"Exactly. Fourteen minutes too long," he insisted.

"Well, if you had just called them yesterday, they might not have felt the need to come over in the first place," she pointed out, though not really believing that herself.

"Hindsight is everything," he replied with a sigh. "But I had other stuff on my mind, didn't really have time to think about updating them."

"Oh, and what did you have on your mind?" she wondered with a smile, knowing very well where the conversation would end.

Damon raised his eyebrows at her. "Like you don't know. And I didn't hear you complaining."

"I'm brand new, I'm a little overwhelmed by … everything right now," she defended herself. "You're the one who's supposed to be the adult."

His eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'll give you overwhelmed."

He lunged for her, but Elena managed to slip out of his grasp and sprinted off through the room. She might be much faster than she had been before, but he still didn't have any problem catching up to her in the doorway to the bedroom. Not that she was trying very hard to get away from him …

* * *

It was with a mix of anxiety and excitement that Elena left the house later that night. She wanted to do this, she really did, but at the same time she was a little worried that she might … no, she wasn't going to think like that: she knew that Damon and the others would be keeping an eye on her and prevent her from doing anything that she would regret.

Just outside the door she stopped, closed her eyes and just felt it, everything, all the new little nuances in the world that she had thought she knew so well. The night was still warm from the hot day, and she thought she could almost taste the lingering sunlight as she inhaled. The air around her was full of smells and sounds she had never noticed before – the leafs on the tree nearby smelled _green_, somehow, the earth was still warm and emitted a smell of summer, there were insects still buzzing around and birds in the surrounding trees.

"You OK there?" Damon asked after a moment, sounding amused, and Elena opened her eyes.

"Fine, just … trying to take it all in," she replied with a smile. "There's so _much_, of everything."

He laughed a little. "Yeah, I know, it's a little overwhelming in the beginning. But you'll get used to it in no time, don't worry."

She nodded, though far from sure about that. "If you say so …" She didn't know if she _wanted_ to get used to it. What fun would life be if the world didn't surprise you every now and then?

"Now come on. We can't just stand around here all night so you can smell the roses or whatever. We've got things to do, places to go."

She rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, I'm coming."

When they got to the parking lot at the park entrance, the others were already there.

"Sorry we're late," Elena apologized.

"You didn't run into any … problems on the way, did you?" Stefan asked, glancing at Damon.

"Give her a _little_ credit," Damon told his brother. "She was just a little overwhelmed by all the new smells and sounds when we got outside, took a while to tear her away from it. And, come to think of it, give _me_ a little credit too. I think I can handle one little newbie on my own. Or did you think I'd try to corrupt her?"

His voice was light enough that someone who didn't know him as well as Elena did might be fooled, but she could tell that he really was annoyed that his brother would jump to conclusions like that.

"Why don't we get going?" she suggested, not wanting them to get into it. "I'm guessing this isn't what you had in mind when you said that we had to get away from people, right?"

Damon gave Stefan one last look before turning to Elena. "No, we're going further into the woods, away from the trails. Come one." He reached for her hand and she linked her fingers with his, letting him lead her across the parking lot and up a trail that was soon enveloped in the vegetation of the park.

She could hear the others following them, and also the sound of animals of all kinds of shapes and sizes scurrying out of the way as they continued into the woods. If she had thought that there were a lot of new scents outside their apartment building earlier, it was nothing compared to this. She couldn't even place most of the smells, only the somewhat familiar ones: pine, grass, freshly dug dirt, moss, water somewhere close by.

She let Damon tug her along by the hand and just enjoyed her surroundings, inhaling deeply to catch every single scent and looking all around her to see as much as possible. After ten minutes or so, he stopped and released her hand. She turned to him with a questioning look on her face. This couldn't be what he had in mind. Sure, they had left the trail behind, but only a couple of minutes ago.

He flashed her a smile that she had no trouble seeing in the dark woods. "Catch me if you can!"

* * *

**AN: A bit of a cliffie, I know, but I have to keep you wanting more, right? So, a little more exploration, meeting the family for the first time after the change and all that. What did you think? We're gonna have some more fun with Elena's new senses and abilities in the next chapter, but for now, this is it. Please let me know what you thought!**


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: OK, time for some exploration! I wasn't completely sure how to do this, so I hope you like the result. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, I'm glad you liked it! **_**kat**_**: I can see what you mean about Stefan being a little overbearing in the last chapter, but that's just because he was worried. He does still care about Elena, so I think it's only natural for him to be a little intrusive at first. But I'll try to tone it down from now on! About the 'time alone' part … we might just get there! And as far as Elena slipping up, I'm not even going to go there, because then I would be giving away too much, so you'll all just have to keep reading to see what I have in store for her! Evil, I know! OK, all for now, let's get on with the story. And, as always, lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578, for her help with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter twenty-two**

Before Elena had a chance to react, Damon had disappeared like a ghost among the trees. But it only took her a split second to get her limbs working and take off after him – she had no problem following him in the darkness.

Luckily, the wood wasn't very thick here, and she could easily zigzag between the trees. A couple of twigs did manage to get her and scratched against her bare arms and face, but it wasn't very painful. She didn't even bother to assess the damage, since she knew that the scrapes would heal before she could even get a closer look at them.

She kept an eye on Damon as he ran a few feet ahead of her, but was still caught off guard when he suddenly stopped. She barreled straight into him and knocked him off his feet, something she knew never would have happened before: it would have been like running straight into a wall or something.

"I think we might need to work on your reaction skills," he half-groaned into the moss, and she quickly got up.

"Sorry, didn't mean to pummel you," she apologized. "Next time don't stop right in front of me."

"I'll keep that in mind." He got gracefully to his feet just as Jeremy, Anna, Stefan and Abby came into what Elena now realized was a small clearing in the woods. In front of them was the Eno River, cutting a deep, sharp valley in the wilderness. If Damon had stopped just a few feet farther ahead, they both would have ended up at the bottom, fifteen feet below.

"Feeling a little tired, Damon?" Abby asked amusedly when she spotted him getting up from the ground.

"Funny." He brushed a few dead leaves off his shirt. "Someone hasn't quite figured out how to stop yet."

"Details," Abby brushed it off.

"Isn't it cool, though?" Jeremy piped in excitedly, stopping next to Elena. "It feels almost like flying."

Elena nodded, not quite as enthusiastic about it as Jeremy obviously was. "Yeah, it was fun." She had been looking forward to this, exploring her new abilities, and, sure, it had been exhilarating, rushing through the woods, and she could easily get used to moving that fast, but she couldn't quite muster up the same fervor as Jeremy. Maybe it was a guy thing.

"Come on, Elena, it's totally awesome!" he insisted.

"Maybe it's not a newbie thing so much as a guy thing?" Abby suggested, voicing Elena's exact thoughts.

"Hey!" Damon and Stefan exclaimed in unison, glaring at Abby, but she just laughed.

"Oh, come on! The whole speed thing is definitely something guys appreciate more than girls," she insisted. "It's genetic, programmed into your DNA or something. I mean, can you name _one_ female formula one driver?"

"There have been five, actually," Damon immediately responded. "Well, five that entered a Grand Prix anyway. The most successful one was Lella Lombardi, who has twelve starts and finished sixth in the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975."

Abby rolled her eyes. "I wasn't asking for a history of the sport, I was trying to make a point."

"I think I have to agree with her," Anna piped in. "I mean, it's not that we don't think it's fun, it's just that … well, we don't get all excited about it."

"No, you get all excited about stuff like _clothes_ and _shoes_ and _purses_," Damon countered. "_Much_ better."

"Come on, guys," Elena tried to prevent a fight. "I thought we came out here so that I could test my new abilities and have some fun, not to argue."

"You're right, sorry," Abby immediately apologized.

"Yeah, sorry," Damon said, though Elena could tell that he was still annoyed at Abby. "Let's see what you got. We already know you're stronger, let's see how _much_ stronger."

"Why, what did you do?" Stefan wondered curiously, and Elena looked down at her feet.

"I might have kicked a hole in a wall," she mumbled, though there really was no point, since everyone present had super hearing and would hear her anyway.

"You kicked a _hole_ in a _wall_?" Jeremy repeated amusedly. "How the hell did _that_ happen?"

"I was just trying to open the door," she defended herself quickly. "I didn't stop to think that I might _break_ something."

"I think it's safe to say that it'll take you some time before you get used to your new strength, which is perfectly normal," Anna said, glancing at Jeremy who was laughing. "And do you want me to tell them what _you_ did your first day?"

He immediately stopped laughing and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Anna. "You wouldn't."

"If you don't stop laughing at your sister, I will."

He glared at her for another moment. "Fine."

Elena shot Anna a grateful, and a little inquisitive, look. The other girl flashed her a smile and mouthed the word 'later'. Elena nodded with a smile.

"OK, enough with the chit-chat," Damon said impatiently. "Let's get down to the fun stuff!"

"What did you have in mind?" Elena wondered curiously. She was eager to try out her new abilities, of course, but she wasn't sure how she would actually go about it. Try to rip a tree up by its roots? Was that even possible? Run all the way back to the apartment while someone timed her? Neither of those alternatives seemed like much fun.

"Well, I already proved that you can't beat _me_ in a race," Damon continued in a slightly smug voice, and she rolled her eyes. "But little brother isn't that much older than you, so I thought you could test your speed and strength against him."

Elena turned to Jeremy, who wagged his eyebrows at her. "Let's see what you got, sis."

The long-running sibling rivalry started bubbling in Elena. "Oh, you're _so_ going down."

"In your dreams."

"OK, let's keep the pre-race mind-games to a minimum," Abby instructed, stepping between Elena and Jeremy. "We want a fair race here."

"How are we going to do this?" Jeremy wanted to know, sounding eager to get started.

"Yeah, we're not going to wrestle or something like that, right?" Elena wrinkled her nose. She might be stronger, but she still didn't think she'd be able to take Jeremy in a wrestling match.

"If I wanted you to wrestle someone, I'd pick Abby or Anna," Damon told her with a smirk. "Some mud, bikinis … damn, I should have thought about that!"

"If you're done picturing our girlfriends wrestling in mud, I could tell them what we have planned," Stefan said dryly.

Damon sighed. "Fine, ruin my fun."

"Thank you." Stefan turned to Elena and Jeremy. "OK, Abby and I have constructed a sort of vampire obstacle course. Abby, why don't you and Anna go to the finish line? Damon and I will stay here and get them started."

Abby and Anna took off into the woods, disappearing before Elena had a chance to see which way they went.

"You actually _built_ an obstacle course?" she asked incredulously.

Stefan shrugged. "Most of it's natural formations, but we made some … additions and alterations."

"So what are we up against?" Jeremy asked.

Damon shook his head. "No, no. You're going in blind. _Much_ more fun like that."

"There will be some different challenges," Stefan, being more diplomatic, offered. "Testing your speed and strength, with a little logical thinking thrown into the mix as well. The most obvious solution might not always be the best one, keep that in mind. You'll know what I mean when you get out there. And there will be times when there is an easy way around the obstacle in front of you, but that will be considered cheating. And don't think we won't find out, because we will. Also there will be flags along the track, blue and pink. Jeremy gets the blue ones, Elena the pink, and if you have less flags than your opponent when you reach the finish line, it doesn't matter if you get there first, you still lose. They won't always be out in the open or directly on the track itself, so we're testing your observational skills, too."

"Let's do it, then." Jeremy looked around the clearing. "Where are we going?"

Damon pointed towards the crevice from which the Eno River could be heard gushing on its way through the park. "That way, across the river and then to the right. Keep the valley of the river on your right all the time and you'll stay on track."

Elena's jaw dropped: the gap was wide here, probably at least twenty feet, and there was no bridge in sight. "Are we supposed to _jump_ that?"

Jeremy shot her a look. "Why? Don't think you can do it? Don't worry, you can forfeit right away if you want, I promis I'll only tease you about it for, oh, say a century or so."

His mocking tone of voice made her square her shoulders. "I can do it."

"Then let's go."

Stefan grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hang on. Elena gets a head start."

"What? Why?" Jeremy asked exasperatedly.

"Because you've had three years to get used to your new abilities," Damon replied. "She hasn't even started exploring them yet, so she gets to start ten seconds before you."

"Ten seconds isn't that much," Elena complained. "Can't I have a little more time?"

"It should be enough to even out the playing field," Stefan said. "Elena?"

She nodded, indicating that she was ready, and felt her muscles tense in anticipation.

"Go!"

As soon as Stefan said the word, she took off, running as fast as she could towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the river.

_I can do it_, she told herself as she approached the valley of the river. Moving as fast as she did she really shouldn't have a problem jumping the gap, but her mind was busy telling her that there was no way she could do it.

Luckily, it only took her a few seconds to get to the edge, and then she was flying through the air, landing on the other side a little less gracefully than she had been going for. But she hadn't ended up at the bottom of the river, so she considered it a success.

Not wanting to waste time looking back to check if Jeremy had started yet, she grabbed the pink flag that was tied to a tree in front of her and then turned right and ran into the woods, which was a little thicker on this side of the river. She had to concentrate to keep from barreling into a tree trunk – the trees were old and big here, and she thought it would be best to try to stay out of their way. Even if they probably wouldn't hurt her much, they would still slow her down, something she definitely couldn't afford if she was going to beat Jeremy. At the same time, she did her best to keep her eyes open for something pink.

After less than a minute, she reached a sharp, rocky incline with a waterfall rushing down to her right. Without hesitating, she started climbing, finding that she had no trouble locating small crevices for her fingers and the toes of her shoes. She kept an eye out for flags as she climbed higher, finally finding them tucked into a larger crevice close to the gushing water, and she grabbed the pink one. After that, it only took her a moment to reach the top, thirty or so feet above the forest floor where she had started.

When she paused for a second – she didn't really need to catch her breath, but she wanted to stuff the flag into her pocket where the first one already was – she thought she could hear something behind her. Maybe it was just one of the animals in the woods, but she wasn't going to take the chance, so she hurried to keep going straight ahead, following the river like Stefan had told them. She was _not_ going to lose to her little brother, she would never hear the end of it.

For a few minutes, her route was pretty uneventful. She was running up a slight incline, deeper into the woods as far as she could tell, with the river bubbling along next to her. She was starting to wonder where all the obstacles Stefan had been talking about were, and if she had missed a flag somewhere, when she suddenly found herself in front of a large pile of uprooted trees. They looked old and mossy, so she didn't think Stefan and Abby had torn them from the ground just to build this little course, but they had probably moved them. So tearing trees up by the roots should definitely be doable, then.

The trees were arranged so that there wasn't really any easy way of climbing them, and even if Elena didn't think it'd take her more than a minute or two to make her way over them anyway, she thought that this might be one of the 'logical thinking' scenarios that Stefan had mentioned. Besides, she couldn't see any flags at the top. They could be on the other side, of course, but she didn't think so. Going around the pile was of course an option, but she was pretty sure that would be cheating and she didn't cheat.

She had almost decided to climb the pile of trees, but took one last look at it before she did, and that's when she found it: a small opening close to the river on her right, big enough that both she and Jeremy would be able to squeeze through it but not easily spotted because it was partially covered by branches and leaves.

Glancing behind her without getting a glimpse of her brother, Elena quickly squirmed through the opening of the hole. Spotting the two flags tied to a branch that stuck out into the hole, she knew she had found the right way.

When she got out on the other side, she continued on her way and, after only a minute or so, she spotted something pink high above her. Stopping dead in her tracks, she looked up into the crowns of the trees, localizing the two flags almost at the top of a large oak tree.

Without hesitating, she started climbing the tree, which was actually pretty easy to climb. It only took her a moment to reach the flags and grab the pink one, and then she started climbing back down again. When she was about ten feet above the ground, she decided to just jump the rest of the way down. She landed a little more gracefully this time, and immediately took off again.

After a few minutes, she got to the third actual obstacle: a ten-feet high, wooden fence. There was a rope hanging down it – the flags were tied to it at the top of the fence – making it possible to climb it. For an instant, Elena considered trying to jump the fence instead of climbing it – she had been able to jump a twenty-feet wide river, so this should be a piece of cake, really – but then decided against it, figuring that it would probably be hard to land on top of it. Instead, she grabbed the rope and started climbing up the fence.

She had just landed on the other side of the fence when she heard running footsteps on the side she had come from. Pausing, she listened intently for a moment. The footsteps stopped and then there was a rushing sound and Jeremy appeared at the top of the fence.

"Haven't you gotten farther?" he asked with a smirk, grabbing his blue flag and jumping down to land beside her, much more gracefully than she had managed. "I'm gonna win!"

"No way!" She took off again, hearing him running next to her.

"Face it," he called. "I'm faster and stronger than you, that's just the way it is. Three years is a lot in the vampire world."

"Race isn't over yet!" she called back, catching a glimpse of something pink out of the corner of her eye and quickly jumping the river, which wasn't more than seven feet or so at this spot. Sure enough, the flags were tied to a tree on the other bank, and she quickly grabbed the pink one and then kept running, jumping back over the river to get back on track. Jeremy, who had missed the flag, had to stop and turn around, which put Elena ahead again, if only by a second or two.

The next obstacle they got to was two large boulders lying in the middle of their path. Elena frowned as she saw them. They wouldn't be hard to go around or jump – they probably weren't even three feet in diameter – which made her think that there was something else about them.

"I think this might be the test of strength," Jeremy reasoned, having stopped next to her. "We have to lift them."

Elena stared at the boulders – they had to weigh at least a hundred pounds, there was no way she could lift that … or was there?

Jeremy had already grabbed the boulder on the left and she was about to grab the other one when she spotted something pink under the one Jeremy had just picked up. With one swift motion, she grabbed the flag and started running again.

"Thanks, Jere!" she called over her shoulder at Jeremy, who was staring after her.

"Hey! That's cheating!"

She just laughed and kept running.

Instead of coming upon another obstacle, Elena soon spotted Anna and Abby ahead of her and pushed herself even harder to reach them before Jeremy caught up with her. She succeeded, passing the two girls a split second before Jeremy did.

"I won!" she exclaimed, jumping around excitedly.

Jeremy shot her a dark look. "Just because you cheated," he complained.

"It's not my fault you picked up the rock that covered _my_ flag, is it?" she countered, and both Anna and Abby started laughing.

"She has a point, Jere," Anna said, patting Jeremy on the shoulder. "She won, fair and square."

Jeremy just kept glaring at Elena, who was still too excited to stand still.

"We still have the small matter of the flags to attend to," Damon's voice reached them a moment before he and Stefan appeared among the trees. "Let's see them."

Elena pulled the flags she had grabbed along the course out of her pocket and held them up.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," Stefan counted out loud. "Good, you only missed one. Jeremy, let's see how many flags you got."

Scowling, Jeremy held up his flags.

"One, two, three, four, five …" Stefan counted again. "I guess that means Elena won, hands down."

"Yes!" Elena exclaimed. "But where was the flag that I missed? I really thought I got them all."

"Right there," Damon said, nodding in the direction they had come from.

Elena rolled her eyes when she saw the last two flags, tied to a tree just a few feet before the spot where Anna and Abby had been waiting for them.

"No fair," she complained. "We thought we were done when we saw Anna and Abby."

"Exactly the reason we put them there," Abby replied with a laugh. "But come on, you had fun, right?"

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun," Elena assured her. "Thanks so much for doing this, it must have been a lot of work to do all that."

"Not really," Abby brushed it off. "It was fun."

"And you did great," Damon piped in. "But you did have some luck, with the rocks."

Elena raised her eyebrows. "Did you follow us through the woods?"

"Of course we did," he replied immediately. "We had to make sure you didn't cheat, didn't we?"

"I had no idea you were out there," she admitted. "I mean, I heard Jeremy a few times, when he was right behind me, but that's it."

"Yeah …" Damon nodded thoughtfully. "We're gonna have to work on your stealth a little. I don't think there's a single animal left within a ten mile radius: you've scared them all away."

She punched him in the arm. "Shut up!"

"Ow!" He complained, rubbing the spot. "That actually hurts now, you know."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Good."

"OK, that's it, you're gonna get it!" He made a dash for her, but she slipped out of his grasp at the last second.

"Anyone want a drink?" Stefan asked, putting a stop to what could have turned into a real chase.

"Yeah, thanks, baby brother," Damon replied. "I could use a little pick-me-up after that excursion."

Stefan took off his backpack and sat down on the ground, opening it and taking out a few bottles of soda. "I was actually talking about _this_," he said, tossing a bottle to Damon, who caught it without a problem.

"Not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it'll have to do for now." Damon opened the bottle and took a long swig of the contents.

"You want one?" Stefan asked Elena. "I probably should have brought some blood, for you at least, but I didn't think about it. Sorry."

"That's OK," she assured him. The truth was, she hadn't even thought about blood since they got into the woods, and she wasn't feeling very hungry. Maybe her appetite was starting to decrease, like Damon had said it would? "I haven't tasted anything but blood yet, it'll be fun to see how actual _food_ tastes."

"Don't have much food, but you can have a soda," he offered, holding a bottle out for her.

"That'll be perfect." She took the soda from him and sat down next to him before opening it, taking a tentative sip. It tasted wonderful, even better than it had before she had changed. "That's _really_ good. I wonder how other stuff will taste, like jell-o and … chocolate bars and … skittles and … strawberry pop tarts … oh, and _real_ strawberries!"

"I take it we're stopping at the store on our way home?" Damon asked amusedly.

Elena gave him her best puppy eyes. "Can we?"

He shook his head at the expression on her face. "Sure."

Stefan laughed. "You really do have him wrapped around your little finger, don't you?"

"Hey, I can hear you, you know," Damon pointed out.

"I know," Stefan replied, unfazed.

Damon huffed. "Well, as long as _that's_ clear."

Elena laughed at the exchange.

"So, are you liking your new life so far?" Stefan changed the subject.

Elena nodded, taking another drink from her bottle of soda. "It's been great."

"Of course, you haven't _done_ much yet," he continued. "Is this the first time you've left the apartment?"

Looking down at her feet, Elena nodded. "Yeah. The sun thing is an issue, you know, so we thought it would be best to just stay inside while it's light out, at least for a while."

"Right, makes sense."

They were silent for a moment.

"Listen …" Elena then said. "I wanted to thank you. For yesterday."

It was Stefan's turn to look down at his feet. "Don't mention it."

But she kept going. She knew that the others could hear them, but she had realized that that was pretty much the way things were going to be from now on, with so many of her friends and family members having super hearing. "I know it can't have been easy for you."

He let out a deep sigh. "No, it wasn't. It was really, really hard. But I did what I had to do, you know."

"But you _didn't_ have to do it, you could have just said no, so I'm really grateful that you agreed to do it anyway."

He shook his head. "I couldn't say no. Family's family, that's what it's all about, being there for each other."

She smiled, glad that he looked at it that way. "Yeah, family's family."

"And we're family," he continued. "I mean, we have been for a long time, really, but now …"

Elena nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

He glanced at her. "Good."

They sat in companionable silence for another moment, finishing their sodas.

"Do you want to get going?" Abby asked after a few minutes. "It's almost four in the morning, and I'd really like to get some sleep before the sun rises."

"God, I'm sorry," Elena exclaimed. "You've been out here all night because of me, of course you should go back to your hotel."

"Don't worry about it," Abby brushed it off. "It was fun. But now I'm starting to get tired." As if to confirm her words, she was overcome by a huge yawn.

"Sure, let's head back to town," Stefan agreed, getting to his feet.

"You wanna go too?" Damon wondered, and Elena nodded, suddenly feeling pretty tired herself. They had planned on getting some sleep before going out into the park, but had somehow gotten sidetracked …

"Yeah, I need some sleep too," she said, taking the hand he offered her and standing up. "You guys do know where we are, right? Because I lost track a couple of miles ago, I couldn't point us in the direction of the cars if you paid me."

"Good thing _some_ of us have a better sense of direction then," Damon told her with a smirk.

"I was a _little_ distracted by the whole obstacle course thing," she replied. "Excuse me if I didn't keep track of where I was going too."

He just laughed. "Come on, we've got it."

They started walking through the woods, more slowly now.

"We're actually closer to the cars now than we were when we started," Stefan said after a while. "You followed the river back towards the park entrance during the race, it's not even a mile from here."

"Good," Elena replied. "I don't feel like running any more tonight."

"Right, because you've had all the luck you're allowed for one night and you know you'd lose," Jeremy piped in.

"Doesn't matter, I still beat you," Elena told him with a big smile. "I'll remember that for a _long_ time."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered.

"Ah, come on Jere, it was just for fun." She looped her arm with his and squeezed it. "Don't be such a sore loser."

"I can whine a little, can't I?" he insisted, though sounding less annoyed.

"OK, fine, one more!" Elena allowed.

"You know I would have won if I'd picked up the right boulder," he immediately said. "You were just lucky."

"I still would have gotten more flags," she retorted.

"OK, fine, you won." He sighed. "Beaten by a girl."

"Oh, come on," Elena said lightly. "It's not like it's the first time I've beaten you at something."

"Thank you, that makes it _much_ less embarrassing."

She couldn't help but laugh.

"So, _not_ speaking about it, when were you planning on telling Jenna?"

Elena glared at Jeremy. "Thank you for bringing _that_ up."

"Sorry," he apologized without sounding like he meant it. "You know that she'll figure it out sooner or later, right? Might as well just tell her before she can get all mad at you for hiding it. For too long, anyway."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" she snapped back, immediately regretting her harsh words. "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"It's OK, it's just your heightened emotions talking," he replied. "I remember what it was like. But you do need to tell her, the sooner the better."

Elena sighed. "I know. But I need to be in control of myself before I even go near her or Maddy."

"Absolutely," Jeremy immediately agreed. "I'm not saying tomorrow or anything, but soon. If you want, I can go with you."

She squeezed his arm. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll let you know, OK? I think it might be easier if it's just the two of us, but it's very possible that I'll change my mind before I actually _get_ there and bring you along as a buffer."

He laughed. "The human buffer, that's me!"

Elena laughed too. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know. Just say the word and I'm there."

"Thank you."

* * *

**AN: OK, some fun in the woods and a few talks, what did you guys think? Let me know …**


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: Another chapter for you guys. I actually wasn't planning on doing the girls/guys nights, but after a review from **_**Tinkerbell90**_** about looking forward to reading about it, I started thinking it would be fun to write, and a good way for the girls to get to know each other a little better, so here we go ****–** _**Tinkerbell90**_**, I hope you like it!**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter – _**bibby180**_**, we will find out what Jeremy did, of course! ****And welcome to _teamjacob1990_, nice to have a fellow twilighter discover the wonders of the VD! **Some bonding in this chapter, and then Elena's going to do some more exploring … you'll see what I mean as you read on! Thanks to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578, for getting this chapter back to me as quickly as she did! 

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.**

* * *

**Chapter twenty-three**

Elena glanced at the clock and then at Damon, sprawled out on the bed reading a book.

"Were you planning on getting up any time soon?" she asked, grabbing an elastic band and pulling her hair into a ponytail.

"Why?" he replied without looking up, completely unconcerned.

"Because Anna and Abby are going to be here in half an hour."

"So call them and cancel," he suggested with a shrug.

"I don't _want_ to cancel."

He looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment. "Well, you're no fun."

She rolled her eyes. "Why, because I want a few hours of girl time?"

"Exactly. But, don't worry, I'll go." To demonstrate it, he tossed the book to the side and got up from the bed. "You I can deal with, but add Abby and Anna to the mix, and it's just too much estrogen for me to handle on my own."

"See? You need some guy time too."

"If it makes you feel better about kicking me out of my own home, you tell yourself that."

She knew that he wasn't really serious, so she didn't pay any attention to his mock-hurt façade.

When Abby and Anna got there, Damon was amazingly enough ready to go.

"OK, you girls have fun with the ice cream and the chick flicks and the pillow fights or whatever it is you do when you have girls' night," he said. "Though maybe I could stay just for the pillow fight … I'm sure the guys would understand."

"Why do guys always think we have pillow fights?" Anna asked exasperatedly. "Is there something sexy about feathers?"

"I think it's the underwear part that they like," Abby piped in.

"Either way, there will be no pillow fight!" Elena told Damon, who smirked at her.

"In my head, there will be."

She rolled her eyes. "And on that note, I'll see you later. And try not to lose too much money."

"Oh, please!" He huffed. "Have you _seen_ my poker face?"

Ignoring the rhetorical question, she gave him a quick kiss. "Bye."

"Bye. Have fun."

"You too."

As soon as the door closed behind him, Abby got a big smile on her face. "OK, bring on the pillow fight!"

Elena frowned at the other girl. "Did you really think we were going to have a pillow fight?"

Abby laughed. "No, of course not! But Damon's still on the other side of the door."

Sure enough, there was some muttering heard from the staircase and then the sound of him going down the stairs.

"You two really don't get along, do you?" Anna asked amusedly.

Abby waved her assumption off with a hand. "Nah, we're fine. I just really like getting on his nerves. It's so _easy_!"

Anna laughed. "I know what you mean."

Elena just shook her head at her friends. "Let's get this girls' night on the road, shall we?" she suggested, leading the way into the living room. "There's ice cream in the freezer, chips and popcorn in the pantry, sodas in the fridge and a bunch of movies by the TV. Go crazy!"

Within minutes, the other girls had stocked the living room table with everything needed for the whole evening.

"What movie do you want to start with?" Anna asked from the TV, holding up a couple different ones.

"Why don't we start with some truth or dare?" Abby suggested instead. "Or, well, just truth, really, since there aren't any guys here and I'm not so much in the mood to go running around the block naked."

"We could do that," Elena agreed and Anna nodded.

"Great." Abby slumped down on the couch. "I mean, Anna and I go way back, but I feel like I barely know you, Elena, and it's a good way to learn more about each other."

"We're not doing embarrassing truths, though, right?" Anna wondered, sitting down in one of the armchairs. "I mean, like, did you ever pee your pants or something like that?"

"Why, have you?" Abby immediately replied with a smile. "No, of course not. Just … get-to-know-you questions. If you don't want to answer something, you don't have to."

"So, basically, we're going to talk?" Elena concluded, claiming the other end of the couch.

Abby shrugged. "I guess. But that's not nearly as girls' night-y."

"OK, then, you get the first question," Elena started, "Abby … why do you hate your name?"

The other girl shuddered. "I didn't even like it when I was _alive_, and, trust me, I wasn't the only girl named Tabitha in London back then. Now … it's _so_ eighteenth century! I'm just glad it's easy to shorten, or I don't know what I'd do. And when I say 'Abby', people usually assume my full name is Abigail or something, which is a big plus."

Both Elena and Anna laughed. "I don't know," Anna then said. "I mean, these days it's all about having a unique name and all that. Maybe I should start going by my full name again. I bet people wouldn't even bat an eye when they heard it."

"You do that," Abby replied. "No way in hell am I going to start using 'Tabitha' again."

"I wonder if I'll hate my name in a couple of centuries," Elena mused. "I mean, I like it now, but you never know."

"You can always use Ellie or something," Abby suggested. "It can be short for a whole bunch of more or less timeless names. Or you can come up with a new name altogether. It'll add some variation to life, changing your name every now and then."

Thoughtfully, Elena nodded, though she wasn't sure she'd ever do that. She wanted to have some sort of connection to her old life, remember who she had been and where she came from. Keep some sort of link to her family. Which made her think of something …

"Hey, Anna? What was that you threatened Jeremy that you would tell me about his first day as a vampire?" she asked.

Anna laughed. "Right, that. But he made me promise not to tell you, so you cannot let him know that I did, OK? He'd be insufferable to live with for _months_."

"I don't know, if it's something good, I might _have_ to tease him about it," Elena replied. "But I'll try not to."

"OK. So, as you know, we were up north, since he didn't have his ring yet," Anna started. "There was, like, three hours of daylight during which he couldn't leave the house, but you know Jeremy, he's not the most patient of guys. He was climbing the walls within fifteen minutes, complaining and whining. Eventually, I got sick of it, and I snapped at him to just deal with it, since the only other option was going outside."

Elena's eyes widened. "He didn't go outside, did he?" she asked, knowing her brother well enough to know that that was definitely something Jeremy might do.

Anna shook her head. "No, he had a _little_ more sense than that. But just a little. In his defense, he was brand new, and everything's a little much then, I'm sure you know what I mean. So when I snapped at _him_, he snapped too, and picked up a chair and threw it through the living room window. Luckily, I had gotten curtains that completely shut out the sun, but he did still get burned. It healed in a few minutes, but I bet it hurt like hell, so he won't be trying something like _that_ again anytime soon."

By the time she finished, both Abby and Elena were laughing. Elena had no problem picturing Jeremy's tantrum, despite the fact that her brother had matured a lot in the past three years. She could easily see him behaving like his old self for a while after the change, when all his emotions were heightened.

"I wish I had been there to see that," she said, shaking her head. "Classic Jeremy."

"I'm just glad he's calmed down," Anna said. "I have better things to do than go around replacing windows and furniture every time he has a temper tantrum."

"Guys." Abby shook her head. "Speaking of …" she turned to Elena, "… you and Damon, how did _that_ happen?"

Elena gave her a look. "Eh …"

"Sorry, sorry, that came out much harsher than I intended it to," Abby continued. "What I meant was, while I definitely do get it – the guy _is_ hot, you'd have to be blind not to see _that_ – he and Stefan are _so_ completely different."

"Yeah, they are. I just … I guess with everything that happened after Stefan left, we just got closer and then one thing led to another … it's a long story."

"So give me the cliff notes," Abby insisted. "Unless you don't want to talk about it, in which case you can just tell me to butt out and I will."

Elena shook her head. "No, that's OK. How much did Stefan tell you?"

"About what happened in Mystic Falls after he left? Pretty much nothing. I think he's still feeling guilty about something, even if he hasn't said anything about it."

Elena didn't have any trouble believing that. "Well, when he left, there was already a lot going on in the town," she started, "with Isobel and John, the tomb vampires, the Gilbert device …"

"OK, you're gonna have to back up a few paces," Abby interrupted her, looking like a question mark. "Who are Isobel and John? The tomb vampires? And what device?"

Elena sighed. "I told you it was a long story. But I'll try to shorten it. Isobel is actually my birth mother. Since I looked so much like Katherine, who was a Pierce, but I was a Gilbert, Stefan looked into it and discovered that I was adopted. My uncle, John, was actually my father and Isobel, a girl from another town …"

"Who also happened to be Alaric's first wife," Anna piped in.

"Exactly," Elena agreed. "Well, she was my real mother. Then she married Alaric and started researching the supernatural, vampires and werewolves, and eventually, she wanted to become one."

"Which was when she looked up Damon," Anna added.

Abby's eyes widened. "So your mother is a vampire too?"

Elena nodded. "Yeah, she asked Damon to turn her, and he did. Alaric thought she was dead, which was actually why he came to Mystic Falls in the first place. He was looking for Damon."

"Ooh, talk about family drama!" Abby exclaimed.

"They get along fine now, though," Elena said with a shrug. "OK, anyway, John was in Mystic Falls when Stefan left, and he wanted an invention one of my ancestors made back in 1864. It actually had a spell on it that made it a weapon against vampires, which we figured out from Emily's grimoire."

"Emily Bennett, a witch that helped Katherine," Anna offered.

"Just like Katherine to have a witch on a leash," Abby noted with a slightly disgusted look on her face, and Elena remembered that she'd had a friend who was a witch.

"Yeah. So John, and then Isobel when she came to town too, wanted the invention," Elena continued. "And after Bonnie – she's a friend of mine, Emily's great-great-something granddaughter and a witch – had taken the spell off the device, we gave it to Isobel. Only Bonnie hadn't really taken the spell off. Then, during a town festival, the tomb vampires …"

"A bunch of vampires that had been shut in a tomb back in 1864," Anna added. "Katherine's followers, my mother among others."

"Right, I think I remember you saying something about your mom being trapped somewhere." Abby nodded. "OK, go on."

Elena kept going. "They were going to attack the town, and more specifically the descendants of the founding families, during a town festival. John was going to use the weapon against them, but since we thought it wasn't working, Damon and Alaric were trying to protect the town and kill the vampires when John activated it."

Anna grimaced. "It was horrible, it felt like my head was going to explode."

"You were there too?" Abby asked.

"We were looking for Jeremy," Anna replied. "And he and Elena managed to keep them from finding me and then get me back to their place."

"And Alaric helped Damon," Elena completed the story, shuddering when she remembered that night. "And the tomb vampires were killed, along with the mayor who turned out to be a werewolf."

Abby gave Elena a long look. "You thought he was dead, didn't you?"

Elena looked down at her lap and nodded. "Yeah, for a while … and he probably thought that _I_ was dead, so …"

"Well, if that doesn't bring two people closer together, I don't know what would," Abby said.

"But it still took them _ages_ to actually get together," Anna told her. "It was obvious to everyone else that they were crazy about each other, but they didn't see it themselves."

Elena looked up at Anna. "Hey, I'm right here!"

Anna laughed. "Sorry, but it's true. Jeremy and I even had a bet going about how long it would take you two to finally get your heads out of the sand and do something about it. I hate to admit that he won, I thought it would take _much_ less time than it actually did."

Abby laughed. "Well, love _is_ blind."

Elena shook her head. "OK, can we talk about something else now?"

* * *

"OK, what are we playing for?" Damon asked, sitting down at the makeshift poker table in Stefan and Abby's hotel suite.

"For fun?" Stefan replied. "Does there have to be money involved?"

Damon huffed. "What's fun about _not_ playing for money? Come on, it's not like any of us is exactly poor. Except maybe Jeremy over here. Or does the missus give you an allowance?"

Jeremy glared at him. "I have my own money, don't worry about me."

"OK, then how about a hundred?" Damon suggested. "Or is that too much for you, baby brother?"

Stefan shook his head. "No, that'll be fine."

They each put a hundred dollars in the middle of the table, then Stefan handed out the chips and Damon dealt the cards.

They played in silence for a while, only speaking to check, bet or fold. The only other sound in the room came from the beer bottles being put down on the table and the chips being added to the growing pile in the middle.

"So what do you think the girls are doing?" Jeremy asked after the third deal.

"Pillow fight in their underwear," Damon immediately replied.

Stefan laughed once. "I highly doubt that."

"It's what they do in movies," Damon insisted.

"I don't think the kind of movies you are referring to are very representative of what _actual_ girls do," Stefan told him.

"If that's your way of implying that I watch porn, I'm insulted. I don't watch porn." He wagged his eyebrows in a suggestive way. "Don't need it."

"Hey! That's my sister you're talking about!" Jeremy exclaimed.

Stefan just shook his head. "Can we just play?"

Once again, silence fell in the room.

"I have to say, I admire your guts," Damon said after another couple of deals.

Stefan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your ex and your girlfriend hanging out together." Damon shrugged. "I mean, they're bound to talk about you, you know. Aren't you worried about what might … come up?"

Stefan was silent for a moment. "No."

Damon glanced at his brother, who looked a little uncomfortable, and smiled to himself. "If you say so, baby brother."

* * *

With a yelp, Elena quickly drew the curtains back over the window when the sunlight burned against the skin on her left arm.

"When are you going to stop doing that?" Damon asked in a somewhat bored voice from the bathroom.

She turned from the window to see him coming back into the bedroom, wearing nothing but a towel around his hips.

"When I can finally stand being in the sun again," she replied, quickly averting her eyes from his bare chest so she wouldn't be tempted.

He sighed theatrically and then dropped down on the bed.

"Didn't I tell you that it'll take weeks before that happens?" he asked, rhetorically she assumed. She knew that, of course. Didn't mean she wasn't impatient. "If you want to go outside during the day, you'll just have to wear a thick layer of clothes and big sunglasses. Or a balaclava, I bet you'd be able to pull that off. Though the cops might start to think you were going to rob a bank or something, so probably not a good idea."

She ignored his attempted joke. "I know, I know. I guess I was hoping it'd be faster for me." Every morning for the past week, she had opened a small crack in the curtains in the bedroom to see if the sunlight would be less painful than it had been the day before. Sure, it was getting better – the piercing pain she had experienced the first morning had been replaced by a duller sort of pain that was also growing slightly fainter each day – but she knew that she would never be able to go outside without covering as much of her skin as possible. And since the temperature hadn't dropped below eighty-five degrees since her change, she hadn't even really considered that an option.

"I don't understand what the rush is," Damon said with a frown. "I mean, am I not keeping you … occupied in here?" If she'd had any doubts as to what he was referring to, the suggestive look he gave her would have put an end to them immediately.

"Do you need me to answer that question?" Elena wondered, eyebrows raised, and he laughed.

"Maybe not."

She shook her head at his smug tone of voice." I'm just … bored!"

"Ouch!"

"Oh, shut up, I know you're not really offended."

Damon shrugged. "Maybe not, but you might not want to make telling me how _boring_ it is being confined to the apartment with nothing but little old me to keep you company into a habit. Just a hint."

She didn't even dignify that with an answer. "You know why I want to be able to go outside: I have to talk to Jenna, tell her before she figures it out on her own."

"Right, because _that's_ bound to happen any day now," he replied sarcastically. "Don't forget that we managed to keep all of this from her for over five years."

"Yes, but now that she _does_ know, she's bound to be more suspicious." With a sigh, she slumped down on the bed next to him. "I thought I heard a hint of doubt in her voice the other day when I told her that we didn't need any help packing."

He sighed. "You know that's all in your head, right? What you heard was probably relief that she wouldn't have to come down here and help us move. That's what any _sane_ person would be feeling."

Elena shook her head. "No, I'm sure she's suspecting that something's up."

"So? The worst thing that can happen is that she asks you straight out about it, and then you'll just tell her. Not a big deal."

Of course it was a big deal. "No, I have to tell her. As soon as possible."

"Fine. I'll drive you. I'll park in the driveway and you can make a run for it to the porch. Once you're inside the house, just keep away from the windows and you'll be OK."

She looked at him, eyes widening. "But what if I can't control myself and I … attack her or something. Or Maddy. I haven't been around any humans since before, and I could never live with myself if I did something to them."

Sensing her worry, he took her hand and squeezed it. "I'll be there, do you honestly think I'd let you hurt them? A little faith, if you please."

She shook her head. "No, I can't risk it."

"OK, so we'll do a test run," he concluded.

"A test run?"

Damon nodded. "Yeah. We'll go somewhere, the mall or some other place with a lot of people, and you can get a feel for your self-control, see what you can deal with and not. I mean, I know that you would feel all _guilty_ and stuff if you jumped some stranger in the streets too, but it's better than putting Jenna and Maddy in – completely non-existent, I would just like to point out – danger, right?"

She thought about that for a moment. "That does sound like a good plan, I guess … but you have to promise that you'll stop me if I can't control myself and go after someone, OK?"

He held up two fingers. "Scout's honor."

She raised her eyebrows. "It's supposed to be three fingers."

"Whatever. If you want to ask the Head Boy Scout to come with us and keep an extra eye on you, I'm OK with that."

"The Head Boy Scout?" Elena frowned. "Who?"

He sighed. "I _was_ trying to make a humorous comment on Stefan and his annoying habit of being way too trustworthy, but if I have to _explain_ the joke to you, the whole thing is ruined."

"Oh. No, he doesn't have to come with us, I trust you to keep me from slaughtering the unsuspecting townspeople."

"OK. Or Anna or Abby could come along," he suggested. "Some girl time. You had fun with them on Friday, right?"

"I did … hey, are you just trying to get out of going to the mall with me?"

"Guilty as charged."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Well, it's not like it's a shopping spree, so I think you'll be good. And we don't have to go to the mall, we can go … bowling or something."

Damon laughed. "Oh, no, I'm not putting a bowling ball in your hands right now, you'd demolish the entire place."

"Oh. Sorry, didn't think about that."

"Good thing you have me then."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, what would I ever do without you?"

"Be even more bored than you already are?"

"Will you let that go!"

* * *

They left the apartment a little before eight thirty that evening. The sun hadn't completely set yet, but it was low enough that Elena could walk from the apartment building to the car without being too uncomfortable. Since the mall only stayed open until nine, they wouldn't have more than twenty minutes there, but Damon had assured her that would be enough.

"All you need is to get a whiff of some humans," he had explained. "We could just knock on the neighbor's door and ask to come in for a moment, but I think that might seem a little suspicious since we hardly know anyone in the building."

"And being in an open space is probably better, right?" she had asked, and he had rolled his eyes and told her to have a little more faith in herself.

When they got to the mall, Elena hesitated for a long moment. The parking lot wasn't exactly crowded – people had already started to leave – but there were still a lot of cars there.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," she said, biting her lip. "We could wait another couple of days, right?"

"Sure," Damon willingly agreed. "I mean, who cares if Jenna figures out what's going on on her own? It's not like she'll be _less_ mad if you tell her yourself."

She glared at him for a moment. "Don't think I don't know that you're reverse prsychology-ing me," she said. "But it's still working. Let's go."

Laughing, he got out of the car and went around to open her door. As soon as she was in the open air, she grabbed his hand hard.

"Do not let me go," she instructed sternly.

He squeezed her hand even tighter. "Wasn't planning to."

He clicked the remote control to lock the car and then started more or less towing her in the direction of the entrance that lead into the food court. They passed a few people on their way and, each time, Elena turned her head away and squeezed her eyes shut.

When they were finally in the mall, she looked around them, reminding him very much of a deer caught in the headlight of a car. He noticed that her lips were tightly squeezed together.

"Are you holding your breath?" he asked amusedly, and she nodded. "You know, that'll pretty much ruin this whole excursion."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I realize that."

Instead of making a snappy retort, he took her other hand in his. "OK, try to get away from me."

"What?"

"You're obviously doubting my ability to keep you from doing something stupid. So try to get away from me."

She looked at him for another moment, then quickly, trying to catch him off guard, tried to pull her hands out of his. She couldn't even move them an inch, and he didn't look like he was trying very hard to hold on to her.

"OK, you've made your point," she told him.

"And what point is that?" he asked with a smirk. "A) That I'm stronger than you? B) That you need to have some faith in me? Or C) All of the above? I mean, personally, I would go for option C, but it's your call."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, yeah."

"Now that I've made my point," he continued, releasing one of her hands and pulling her along into the center of the food court, "let's see how you do."

She looked around the court, noting the dozen or so people that were seated at the tables. Then, closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, letting all the scents wash over her.

It was like a tidal wave of smells: spicy buffalo wings, slightly overcooked hamburgers, strawberry and chocolate ice cream, fresh vegetables, fried chicken and parmesan from the different restaurants around the food court; hairspray and some sort of strongly scented shampoo from the hair salon nearby; a lemony-scent that probably came from the floors being cleaned … she tried to identify the scent that came from the people she could hear moving around her, but couldn't find anything that was as tempting as she expected it to be. The smell of blood, especially when it had been heated, was almost overwhelming, but there was nothing even remotely close to that here.

"People are starting to look at you funny," Damon muttered next to her, so quietly that nobody else heard him, and she opened her eyes. Sure enough, a group of high school students passing by on their way out of the mall were looking at her as if expecting her to do something crazy. Experimentally, she extended her sense of smell and tried to identify their scents. A lot of perfume, sickly, artificial scents that made her wrinkle her nose and, underneath that, she could identify each individual scent, pheromones, Damon had called them, and a hint of something slightly tempting but … nothing that made her want to attack them.

"They're wearing too much perfume," she told Damon, just as quietly.

"That shouldn't be a problem, you should still be able to get underneath that," he replied. "Aren't you getting anything else?"

"Those pheromones you were talking about, and maybe something a little appealing, but nothing too bad. I'm not trying to make a run for it, am I?" A hint of double chocolate chip cookies made her turn her head. "Oh, can we stop by Subway and get some cookies to go?"

He scrutinized her for a moment, as if not sure he believed her or not. "OK …" he then said, sounding more than a little doubtful. "Let's go somewhere where there's no food smell in the background, just to be on the safe side."

With a sigh, she let him pull her through the food court. She didn't really think that it would be any different away from the smell of food, but she did want to make sure before going to see Jenna and Maddy.

Damon didn't stop until they were in the open space surrounding the beautiful, old fashioned carousel. There weren't any kids on the carousel this late at night, but there was another group of high school kids hanging around and people going into the stores around them.

"OK, try again," he told her with a nod.

Rolling her eyes for good measure, Elena obediently took another deep breath, letting the smells wash over her. Being away from the food court made it easier to identify other smells: cotton and polyester from the clothes in the stores nearby; leather from the shoes; a multitude of different scents, some delicious, other too artificial, from the store selling shower gels; different perfumes coming at her from every direction and along with them the pheromones and that hint of something that could be tempting but didn't quite get there …

"We have to stop by Bath & Body Works before we leave," she said. "They have a new body wash that I _have_ to try, it smells heavenly."

Damon looked at her incredulously. "That's it?"

She frowned at him. "Are you disappointed that you don't have to restrain me?" she asked dryly. "I'm sorry if I'm not living up to your expectations and massacring all the people in here!"

"That's not what I meant." He sighed. "I just … I guess I was expecting _some_ sort of reaction. But you seriously don't want to … eat them?"

She couldn't help but laugh. "No, I really don't."

He looked at her for another moment, then shook his head. "Curiouser and curiouser."

"Is this really the time to quote Alice?" she wondered.

He gave her a quick smile. "Sorry, I'm just a little confused."

"I don't know what to tell you." She shrugged. "I mean, the smell of blood I get, that's … I don't have to tell you that my mouth waters pretty much as soon as I hear the fridge door open. But here … I'm sorry, there's just nothing about these people that makes me hungry."

"You don't have to apologize for that," he told her, squeezing her hand. "It's a good thing."

"I know. But it's also weird, right?" She was a vampire now: humans were her food. So shouldn't she _want_ to eat them? She'd have to talk to Jeremy about that, ask how he had experienced it in the beginning. Why hadn't she even thought about that before?

"Maybe it's the fact that your mind doesn't connect the blood with people?" Damon suggested, a thoughtful look on his face. "I mean, back when I turned and Stefan brought that girl for me …" a shadow crossed his face and it was Elena's turn to squeeze his hand, "… I don't think it was until he bit her and I could smell the blood that I actually felt like I wanted to …" He trailed off.

"I know what you're trying to say," she told him. "And maybe that's it. I mean, if you smell a human, just smell them, do you automatically want to eat them?"

"Now – no, definitely not, but I thought that was just my amazing self-control." He flashed her a smirk. "Before … no, not automatically, I don't think. It's hard to describe it. It's sort of like when you see, say a Big Mac in its box: you know that there's something in there that you can eat, your mind makes that connection. But I guess the actual smell of humans doesn't really do much. Unless someone's bleeding, of course, but you can train yourself to ignore that too. I did."

"And I'm very grateful for that." She felt a shiver run through her at the thought of all the paper cuts and small wounds she'd suffered during their relationship. If he hadn't been able to control himself at the smell of blood, she wouldn't be standing her now.

"I still think that we should get you in close proximity to someone," Damon continued. "I mean, you won't be in an open space like this with Jenna and Maddy, they'll be right next to you. It'll be different."

"What did you have in mind? Compel someone into getting into the car with us or something?" Elena asked, rhetorically. But when she saw him scrutinizing the people around them as if looking for a suitable candidate, she realized that that was exactly what he'd had in mind. "No! We are not using some poor, unsuspecting person as a guinea pig!"

"Isn't that what we've already been doing?" He flashed her another smirk. "Come on, nothing will happen."

"I know that, but the answer is still no!"

He sighed. "Fine, what do you suggest?"

She thought for a moment. "Maybe we could stop by Bonnie's place before going to see Jenna and Maddy? I want to see her anyway, to make sure that we're really still OK, and she can defend herself if I go all crazy axe murderer on her."

"OK, we can do that," he agreed. "Have you talked to her since …?"

She shook her head. "No. To be perfectly honest, I've been a little afraid to call her."

"But she said that she was OK with all this, right? I mean, she spelled the ring for you and everything."

"I know, I know. And I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill, but she's my best friend, has been since we were little. I don't want to lose her over this."

"You won't."

She smiled a little weakly. "I hope not."

* * *

**AN; OK, thoughts? Are you disappointed that I didn't make Elena all bloodthirsty? I guess I was just trying to go down some sort of middle, but still (hopefully) believable, road. We don't know how well vampires in the VD-universe can actually smell the blood in people's veins, and I figured, since Stefan could still be close to Elena when he was drinking blood, and Damon doesn't have any problem with that either, that maybe it wouldn't be so much about the **_**smell**_** of humans that was appealing. And I guess I didn't want to spend chapters dealing with her adjusting to being arond people again, either. I don't know, I hope it worked for you. So, **_**kat**_**, to address your concern about Elena eating "the cute little old grandma in 4B" – no, she won't! But that doesn't mean there aren't still obstacles ahead: how do you think Bonnie is going to react? Is she really going to be OK with all of this, or are Elena's concerns well-founded? We'll find out in the next chapter. And then there's Jenna and her reaction ****… **For now, please let me know what you thought about the chapter!


	24. Chapter 24

**AN: OK, another chapter up. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait between chapters: I'm working on finishing my master's paper and the hold-up is the deadline on that, which is Friday, so after that I should be back in full force again! Anyway, thanks for the feedback on the last chapter, it's nice to know you're still with me. And I'm glad that at least some of you seem to like the fact that I didn't make Elena all bloodthirsty in the beginning. **_**spiritedghost**_**: I guess I can see why you're a little confused by me dragging the sunlight thing out as long as I have, but I'm actually going my own way a little when it comes to that, taking more from the books than the show, I guess, something I pointed out already in the first story when Damon talks about being uncomfortable in the sun. And since I'm going AU after **_**Miss Mystic Falls**_**, I'm more or less disregarding what's happened in season two, including Caroline's experiences when she changed. And when it comes to Elena not feeling the need or urge to drink from a human, that is based on the fact that she never has: she finished the change with bagged blood, unlike Caroline who bit the nurse in the hospital. And I suppose I'm also using the daylight thing as a way for Elena to procrastinate seeing Jenna, at least for a little while. I hope I managed to explain my reasons behind taking the story down the path I have. But, don't worry, the wait is almost over! OK, that's it. Lots of hugs for my amazing beta, sunshine2006578, for being so quick! **

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing. **

* * *

**Chapter twenty-four**

When they got back to the apartment, Elena immediately grabbed the phone. "I'm gonna call Bonnie," she announced. "Might as well get it over with right away, or I'll just put it off. And I have to make sure she's at home tomorrow."

Damon nodded. "OK, you do that."

She took the phone with her into the bedroom – she knew that Damon would be able to hear every word if he wanted to, but it still gave her an illusion of some privacy.

Bonnie picked up her cell phone after the second ring. _"Hey, how're you doing?"_

As far as Elena could tell, there was nothing different about Bonnie's tone of voice. She sounded just like always, if a little … impatient, maybe. "I'm good, you?"

"_Well, let's just say it's a good thing Jeremy and I are friends, or I would have been worried sick this past week,"_ Bonnie said, sounding accusing now. _"You could have called me, you know. Or a text would have been enough, really. I get that you have a lot going on right now, but you could have at least let me know that everything was OK."_

Elena immediately felt guilty. "I know, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I guess I was a little worried about talking to you."

"_Why?"_ the witch asked, sounding like she really couldn't understand why Elena would feel that way.

"Well, you have been acting like this is all OK with you, but I guess I was still afraid that you might change your mind …"

The line was silent for a moment and then, to Elena's surprise, Bonnie started laughing. _"I would have thought spelling that ring for you would be a pretty good indicator that I really am OK with this,"_ she then said. _"And I don't have a problem with Jeremy or Damon or Anna or Stefan, you know that. I know I was all 'vampires are evil' in the beginning, but that was a long time ago."_

"I know." Elena still felt herself relax. "I do, really. But I still …"

"_I get it,"_ Bonnie interrupted her. _"And I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed at you. I remember back when I had just found out that I was a witch: I was terrified that you would think I was a freak and never want to talk to me again. So I know how you feel."_

"Thanks."

"_Though we are pros at the supernatural by now, aren't we?"_ Bonnie continued.

It was Elena's turn to laugh. "I guess we are."

"_So … what's it like?"_

Elena thought for a moment. "It's different," she then said. "Of course. But not as different as I thought. I'm still me, just an upgraded version, sort of. Everything's kind of more intense: smell, taste, touch. And I'm freakishly strong, too. I can almost take Damon."

Bonnie laughed again. _"That I'd like to see. He needs to get knocked down a few pegs every now and then."_

"I'll work on that then."

"_Sounds like a plan. But you're really good?"_

"I am." Elena was a little surprised by the concern in Bonnie's voice. "Were you worried about me?"

"_Of course I was!"_ Bonnie exclaimed. _"I mean, leave it to Damon to botch something up. And … I think I was a little worried that you wouldn't be you anymore."_

"Bonnie …"

"_I know, I know, it was silly. I know Jeremy, he's still the same little punk he always was. But you're my best friend, I couldn't help but worry about losing that."_

Elena felt all warm inside at Bonnie's words: that was exactly what she had been worried about herself. "Never."

"_Good. So was there any other reason you called? Besides finally letting me know that everything's OK, I mean."_

"I said I was sorry about that! And, as a matter of fact, yes, there was another reason."

"_Shoot."_

"I'm planning on going to Mystic Falls to see Jenna and Maddy tomorrow," Elena started. "And I was just wondering if I could stop by your place first?"

"_Of course,"_ Bonnie immediately replied. _"You know you don't even have to ask."_

"It's not a social visit. Or not _just_ a social visit, at least," Elena specified. "I mean, I want to see you, but I also sort of need a favor."

"_OK, now you lost me."_

Elena thought for a moment, trying to figure out a way to say it that didn't sound like 'hey, mind if I make sure I won't eat my aunt and cousin by hanging out with you for a while?' but realized that there really was no way around it.

"I'm a little worried about being close to them," she said, biting her lip.

"_Oh."_ Bonnie was silent for a moment. _"Haven't you been out yet? Around people, I mean. I don't think Jenna and Maddy are the best choice if you want to make sure you're OK around people …"_

"No, no, they're not going to be the test run," Elena hurried to continue. "We just got back from that, actually, we went to the mall to see how I would react to being around people, and nothing. Damon thinks it might be because I don't connect people with food, and maybe that's it. But that was at the mall: when I'm with Jenna and Maddy it'll be at the house, in a small room, I'll be much closer to them than I was to the people at the mall. I just want to make sure …"

"_That you don't suddenly get the urge to take a bite out of them?"_ Bonnie finished her sentence.

"Bonnie!"

"_OK, OK, that was a little too blunt. But that's what it's about, right? You want to see me first to make sure you're not a threat, because you know that if you try something, I'll bring you to your knees with my super-awesome brain-pain witch power."_

"Brain-pain, really?" Elena questioned.

"_Shut up, or I won't be your guinea pig!"_

"Fine. Yeah, that's what it's about. But I want to see you, too, I do. I'm just being practical and killing two birds with one stone."

"_Emphasis on the 'killing' part,"_ Bonnie said, sounding like she was about to start laughing at any moment.

"Ha ha."

"_Oh, come on, that was funny!"_

"No, it wasn't. I'm really worried about this, about hurting Maddy or Jenna, I could never live with myself if I did something to them." Elena could hear her voice getting shriller as she spoke, and then a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. On some level, she knew that she was overreacting, but she just couldn't convince her brain to be logical. Damn heightened vampire emotions!

Bonnie immediately sounded more serious. _"Sorry. I'm just trying to lighten the mood a little. But come by any time tomorrow, I'll be home. Scott went up to Washington for a couple of days, to look at some apartments, so I don't have any plans."_

Elena was glad that things seemed to be working out between Bonnie and Scott this time around. Granted, he had only been back for a few weeks, but still. "Thank you. And if you don't want me in the house, we can meet at The Grill or something."

"_Don't be stupid, of course you can come to the house,"_ Bonnie replied in an almost annoyed voice. _"I trust you. Besides, there are already a bunch of other vampires with written invitations to this place, a little late to start thinking about that now."_

"OK, then we'll be there tomorrow … I don't know, around noon or something. I doubt I'll be able to drag Damon out of bed too early."

"_I'll see you then."_

"See you then. And thanks, again."

Elena hung up the phone and went into the living room, where Damon was watching TV.

"I told you so," he said when she appeared in the doorway. "And you can _so_ not take me."

"It's not polite to listen in on other people's conversations," she retorted, slumping down next to him on the couch.

"So sue me."

* * *

When Elena woke up the next morning, Damon was just pulling the curtains closed over the window, nodding to himself and looking pleased with something.

"What?" she asked groggily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"It's cloudy," he replied. "Should make it a lot easier for you to be outside."

"Great," she said. "Maybe it's a sign?"

He huffed. "Yes, I'm sure Mother Nature stirred up some clouds today _just_ so you can go see your aunt and cousin."

"Oh, shut up!"

He laughed. "Don't you think you should be nice to me today? I could just leave you to fend for yourself this afternoon, who knows what would happen then."

She looked at him through narrowed eyes for a moment. "You wouldn't."

He just smiled at her. "Do you want to risk it?"

Like a flash, she was across the room and pushed him back against the wall, one hand around his throat. "Don't _do_ that!"

Immediately, he raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "Sorry, I was just kidding. Calm down."

Laughing, she let him go. "Did I scare you?"

He looked at her, a confused expression on his face. "What are you …?"

"Did you buy it?" she asked. "Was I convincing?"

As it dawned on him that she had been joking, the confused look on his face was replaced by an annoyed – and, she thought, slightly awed – one. "OK, yes, you fooled me," he admitted. "Way to play up the 'unstable emotions' thing."

"Thank you. I was just trying to make a point."

"Which was?"

She sat down on the bed. "Just that, even if I know that you're kidding, I still don't like it when you joke about the safety of my friends and family."

He gave her a wary look, as if still not completely sure she had been kidding. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you." She caught an appetizing smell from the kitchen and sniffed a little. "Are you making breakfast?"

"Right. Yeah, I almost forgot in all the commotion of almost being strangled. Remember that it's your fault if I burned something." He left the room and returned a moment later with a tray full of pancakes, toast, orange juice and coffee. "I thought you might like to try something different for breakfast," he said, putting the tray down on her bedside table.

She grabbed the mug and took a long swig of the coffee before offering him a smile. "OK, you're totally forgiven."

He laughed and got back into the bed. "Good to know you're open to bribery."

She laughed too and handed him the other coffee mug. "Like you didn't already know that!"

"True."

After another gulp of coffee, she put the mug down on the tray and picked up a piece of toast with strawberry jam on it. She bit off a small piece and chewed thoughtfully. When the wonderful taste spread in her mouth, she took another bite and closed her eyes.

"I take it you like it?" Damon assumed next to her, and she nodded before popping the rest of the toast into her mouth.

When she had swallowed, she opened her eyes and moved on to the pancakes, pouring syrup over them before digging in.

"Oh my God," she mumbled, mouth full. Damon laughed.

"I think you can pretty much assume that everything you liked to eat before will taste even better now," he told her.

Elena swallowed loudly. "And, I don't have to worry about what I eat or how much, because vampires can't get fat!" she exclaimed excitedly, then frowned. "Right?"

He couldn't help but laugh again. "As far as I know, no. Then again, you won't be hungry for food the same way you used to be. But, by all means, go crazy!"

When she had finished everything on the tray – with a little help from Damon – Elena leaned back against the pillows.

"Thank you." She squeezed his hand. "I know you were probably trying to distract me, and it worked."

"Maybe I just wanted to see that look on your face again," he replied.

"What look?"

"The one you got when you had strawberries the other day," he told her. "Like a kid on Christmas morning or something."

She couldn't help but laugh. "This is all new to me, you're going to have to be indulgent with me for a while."

"Oh, I know, and I will be. But I love seeing you happy and, apparently, strawberries and pancakes with syrup make you happy, so …"

"_You_ make me happy," she corrected.

He snorted. "That was a _little_ cheesy."

She shook her head. "I know, I have no idea where it came from."

At that moment, her stomach grumbled.

"Guess you still need some 'actual' food," he deduced, getting up from the bed. "Back in a flash."

"No, wait." She got up too. "I need to hit the shower if we're going to get going soon, I'll come with you."

He glanced at the clock. "It's not even ten thirty yet," he half-whined. "Do we have to leave so early?"

Elena grabbed her robe from an armchair. "Yes, we do. I want to spend some time with Bonnie first, and then I want time with Jenna and Maddy too. If we leave at noon, we won't be there until one thirty."

He let out a sigh. "Fine."

* * *

When they passed the sign welcoming them to Mystic Falls, Elena started biting her lip.

"Relax," Damon told her. "It'll be fine."

"Are you talking about the fact that I won't eat my aunt and cousin or about Jenna's reaction?" she wondered.

"Both. I mean, I was all for waiting before you could see humans again, but you proved last night that we have nothing to worry about. And Jenna … she'd have to be stupid not to realize that this was going to happen at some point, and she's definitely not stupid. I wouldn't be surprised if she had figured out what was going on and, if not, I doubt she'll be too shocked."

"But she'll be mad," Elena pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't think there's a way around that," he agreed. "But she'll probably be more mad that you didn't talk to her before you decided to go through with it. I mean, if the situation were reversed, wouldn't you be?"

She stared at him for a moment. "When did you become such a good judge of character?" she then asked.

Damon laughed. "You hang around humans for a century and a half, you start picking up on how they operate."

She smiled. "I guess that's true. And you're probably right, she will be mad that I didn't talk to her about it. Among other things …" Frowning, she bit her lip again.

"Oh, come on. Worst case scenario, she goes completely crazy and you'll get to try out your compulsion ability."

"Ha ha."

"What I'm trying to say is that, if it goes completely to hell, there is a way to fix it. I know you don't like it, but you might as well consider it before you're there. Now I, personally, don't think it'll go that far, but you're obviously worried, so …"

She understood what he was saying, really, but she still didn't like to think about it. "I hope it won't come to that," she mumbled, looking out through the side window at the familiar streets.

"It won't," Damon told her lightly, pulling up to the curb by Bonnie's house. "Now come on. Step one."

As they got out of the car, Bonnie came out the front door, waving at them. "I thought it might make you feel better if we started out here," she said, not bothering to raise her voice.

Elena smiled. "Yeah, it does."

"So …" Bonnie started when they had gotten onto the porch, "… how are we going to do this? Are you going to smell me or something?"

"Pretty much," Damon confirmed and Bonnie held out her arm for Elena. "She doesn't need to actually _sniff_ you, Sabrina."

Bonnie lowered her arm again. "Well, how am I supposed to know how it works?"

"You just have to stand there," Elena told her friend. "I can pick up your scent from much farther away, but being close makes it stronger of course."

"OK then." Bonnie squared her shoulders. "Go ahead and smell me."

Elena took Damon's hand, feeling him squeeze back to show her that he was there and wouldn't let her do something she would regret, then she opened her senses and took a deep breath.

Bonnie was wearing a flowery perfume of some sort, not too much, and she had no problem getting underneath that. A hint of blood, concealed by something else – not enough to even make her mouth water, just like at the mall last night – and then other scents, more interesting ones. Something … old, she didn't know how else to describe it. Not musty, like clothes that had been stuffed in the attic for years, but it was definitely old. Somehow, she got the feeling that it was the Bennett blood line, the witch heritage, that made itself known this way. A warning to her to not mess with Bonnie. And then more personal scents, things she had always connected with her friend, somehow, without knowing why: wind – she had no idea how wind smelled, but Bonnie smelled like it – and earth, somehow reliable and stable, and, even without the perfume, a little flowery … violets, she decided.

"You smell wonderful," she finally said.

"'Wonderful' as in 'I want to take a bite out of you' or 'wonderful' as in 'where did you get that perfume'?" Bonnie wanted to know, but she was smiling, so Elena didn't take the first part too seriously.

"I do like the perfume," she replied. "But you smell even better underneath it."

"OK …" Bonnie looked like she wasn't quite sure how to take that.

"You probably shouldn't go around complementing people on their 'natural smells'," Damon offered, making air quotes around the last two words. "You'll just confuse them."

"Oh." Elena frowned: she hadn't thought about that. "Sorry."

Bonnie brushed it off with one hand. "Don't worry about it. Do you want to come inside or are we going to hang around out here all day?"

"Yeah, let's go inside," Elena agreed. They had come there partly to make sure she would be OK in close proximity to Bonnie, in a small space, and the porch didn't quite meet those requirements.

"Do you want me to tag along, or will this be a girl-talk-moment?" Damon wanted to know. "Because if that's the case, I'd really rather head over to the boarding house and make sure the cleaning crew didn't mess anything up."

They were moving back to the boarding house in a couple of days, if only temporarily. They had decided to pack everything up the following day and then get the move over and done with on Monday or Tuesday. After that, they were going to spend some time in Mystic Falls before leaving for a few months in Europe. At least that was the plan – as long as everything went OK with Jenna. If not, they would probably start their trip sooner, give her some time to herself to get used to everything.

"Can you come in for just a little while?" Elena asked. She was more or less convinced that she wouldn't jump Bonnie – or, if she did, that Bonnie would be able to defend herself – but she still wanted Damon to be there to make sure.

"Of course," he told her with a nod.

"OK then." Bonnie had gone back into the house and was waiting for them in the hallway. "You coming?"

Damon followed her through the doorway – like Bonnie had pointed out yesterday, he had already been invited into the house – but Elena was stopped by an invisible barrier.

"I guess I need an explicit invitation," she concluded.

"Yeah, a question won't do," Damon confirmed. "It has to be a real invitation."

"Sorry," Bonnie apologized, though looking a little too amused at the situation. "I hereby invite you, Elena Gilbert, into this house."

Damon rolled his eyes at her ceremonious words. "Trust you to take it too far, Sabrina."

Bonnie ignored him, watching Elena as she took a tentative step over the threshold. "It did the trick."

Elena smiled at her. "Thanks, Bonnie."

"Now, how does it work? Was that an automatic pass to the entire house, or do I need to invite you into every single room?" Bonnie wondered with a mischievous smile.

Damon sighed. "Nope, she has an all access, no refund pass now."

"You can actually revoke a vampire invitation," Bonnie told him.

He frowned. "No, that's not possible."

"Sure it is," Bonnie insisted. "I found it in Emily's grimoire. The spell wasn't complete – she was struggling with a couple of the ingredients – but I managed to finish it. It involves vervain, of course, and some other stuff and a bunch of words in Latin. It's not an _easy_ spell, but I think I can do it. Hey, how about if I try it out on you? It'd be great to know for sure that it works." She gave him a seemingly sweet smile.

"I think I'll pass on that," he replied. "But it's good to know …"

"… in case you feel like pissing me off again?" she finished the sentence for him.

"I _was_ thinking more along the lines of 'if we ever need it'," he told her. "Compared to most vampires out there, I'm about as harmless as a bunny … and I cannot believe I just said that."

Both Elena and Bonnie laughed, but Bonnie soon turned serious again. "Then maybe it would be a good idea to try the spell out some day? I mean, I can just invite you in again after we make sure it works."

Damon nodded. "Sounds good." He gave her an appreciative look. "You've turned into quite a handy witch to have around, haven't you?"

At first, Elena thought that Bonnie would be offended, but she just rolled her eyes and looped her arm with Elena's, pulling her along towards the stairs. "Come on, let's go up to my room. It's better than standing around here."

Bonnie's arm felt small and fragile next to hers – but that was probably just because she knew that she could break it in one motion if she wanted to – and Elena didn't dare move hers an inch in fear of hurting Bonnie somehow.

"I'm sorry, is this OK?" the witch asked when they had reached the top of the stairs, probably feeling Elena's discomfort. "Am I too close? I didn't even think about that."

"No, it's OK," Elena hurried to tell her. She hadn't thought about that either, actually, and having Bonnie so close didn't in any way make her … hungry. "It's fine, really. I just … I'm a lot stronger now, I don't want to hurt you or anything."

"That's true," Damon piped in from behind them. "She could snap your arm like a twig."

To Elena's surprise, Bonnie started laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know that's a real possibility, it just …"

She had a point, Elena realized, starting to smile herself. The idea of her hurting Bonnie was really laughable.

Bonnie pulled herself together. "Don't worry," she said, squeezing Elena's arm. "I'm tougher than I look."

"I know." Tentatively, Elena squeezed back.

"Ow!"

Terrified, Elena dropped Bonnie's arm and took a few very quick steps backwards. She probably would have continued if her back hadn't hit the wall. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you badly?"

"I was just kidding!"

Elena crossed her arms over her chest. "That wasn't funny!"

Bonnie laughed. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

Damon nodded in appreciation. "Didn't know you had a dark sense of humor, Sabrina. I have to say I'm impressed."

But Bonnie could tell that Elena really hadn't appreciated the joke. "I'm sorry, OK? You really didn't hurt me, and you don't have to worry about it, either. I know you never would."

"Not intentionally!" Elena exclaimed, feeling her emotions start to bubble inside her. "But right now I haven't gotten used to how strong I am, I could hurt you without meaning to." She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to rein in her emotions. To her relief, it worked.

"OK, so let's practice a little," Bonnie suggested.

"Practice?" Elena repeated. "How?"

"Well, you can't very well go up to a stranger in the street and tell them to let you know when you're hurting them, can you?" Bonnie reasoned, leading the way into her room. "And Damon won't work, since he's stronger than you. So let me be your guinea pig. I promise I'll tell you _before_ you break something!"

Elena knew that the last part was meant as a joke, and that it probably was a good idea to test her strength a little to at least get an idea of how easy it would be for her to hurt someone without it being her intention.

"OK," she agreed with a nod.

Bonnie held out her hands. "OK, give it your best shot."

Carefully, Elena took her best friend's hands in her own and squeezed them lightly.

"Is that all you got?" Bonnie asked amusedly. "I thought you were supposed to be stronger now."

Applying a little more pressure, Elena tried again.

"OK, a little uncomfortable, but definitely not painful," Bonnie told her.

"I think it's safe to say that, as long as you're in control of your emotions and aren't caught completely off guard, you're not going to unintentionally break someone's bones," Damon concluded. "I mean, the wall incident was different."

"What wall incident?" Bonnie immediately wanted to know, and Elena sighed.

"Do you have to tell _everyone_ about that?" she asked, a little annoyed.

Damon gave her his trademark smile. "Of course I have to." He turned to Bonnie. "She accidentally kicked a hole in the wall her first day. Completely messed up any chance we had of getting the security deposit back."

"Seriously?" Bonnie laughed.

"In my defense, I was completely new, and I was a little … distracted," Elena defended herself.

Bonnie quickly raised her hands. "I have a feeling I don't want any details."

"OK, it seems like you two are fine here, so I'm gonna get going," Damon announced. "Call me when you want to head over to Jenna's."

He left the room and, a moment later, they both heard him close the front door. Bonnie plopped down on the bed and Elena followed her example.

"So you're really doing good?" Bonnie asked. "I mean, I know I asked you yesterday, but still."

Elena didn't mind the question at all. "I am, I'm really good. I mean, I'm starting to get used to everything and I can go hours without even thinking about it now, especially since I don't have to eat as often as I did in the beginning. It's really not that different, apart from the super abilities, but I can control those pretty well already, so … though the sun thing is still an issue, of course."

Bonnie frowned. "Why? You have the ring, isn't it working?"

"No, no, it's working," Elena hurried to assure her. "I don't catch on fire when I'm outside. But it's still very uncomfortable. Not painful anymore, like the first couple of days, but being in the sun is like … Damon once compared it to a hangover, and I guess I can agree with that: it hurts my eyes, I get a headache right away, plus it makes my skin crawl, literally. So a very bad hangover, but it should get better soon."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant," Bonnie noted.

Elena shrugged. "It's not. But, like I said, it should get better soon, probably in the next week or so. And then …"

"Everything will be like it used to," Bonnie finished her sentence and Elena laughed.

"More or less, with some … improvements, I guess you could call them."

Bonnie nodded thoughtfully. "What was it like?" she then asked. "The … change, I mean. It might be a little morbid to ask, but I'm curious. How did Damon do it?"

"He didn't, actually, Stefan did," Elena replied, and Bonnie's eyes widened.

"Really? I didn't see _that_ one coming."

Elena shook her head. "Damon just couldn't do it," she said. "I hadn't thought about it either, but I probably should have. He's not as hard or cold as most people might think."

Bonnie laughed. "I know _that_. He's all bark and no bite."

Elena laughed too. "You might not want to tell _him_ that.

Bonnie snorted. "Oh, please, we're _way_ past that these days."

That was probably true, Elena mused. "But, to get back on topic … it was very quick, I didn't even have time to react before everything went black. Then, a couple of moments later, I became aware of my surroundings, but it took me a little while to really get back. I think I had Damon worried for a while. He was a little … obsessive before, and I think it took longer than he had thought it would."

"Obsessive Damon …" Bonnie looked like she was trying to picture it. "That I would have liked to have seen."

Elena laughed again. "It was a little funny, actually," she admitted.

"But everything obviously went OK," Bonnie said. "You're here, and you're doing OK and everything."

Elena nodded vigorously. "I am."

"And you're still you." Bonnie smiled.

Elena reached out to take her hand. "I'm still me."

"Can I give you a hug?" Bonnie asked, a little tentatively. "I mean, if you think it'll be too much …"

"No, it's OK," Elena cut her off. Though she wasn't a hundred percent sure, she didn't feel any inclination to attack Bonnie and didn't think that would change just because she was closer to her friend.

Slowly, as if not wanting to make any sudden movements, Bonnie wrapped her arms around Elena's neck and Elena wrapped hers around Bonnie's waist.

It was just like old times.

* * *

**AN: OK, so meeting Bonnie is out of the way. Thoughts? Reflections? The next chapter will be dealing with Jenna's reaction. I pretty much have a clear picture of what I'm going to do, but if there's anything you'd like to see in that conversation, feel free to let me know, I'm always open to suggestions! OK, all for now, please let me know what you thought!**


	25. Chapter 25

**AN: Thanks for all the positive feedback on Elena and Bonnie's meeting, I'm glad you guys liked it! Moving on to the next big thing now … hope I'll be able to pull that off too! OK, that's really all I want to say for the moment. Thanks to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578, who was so quick to get the chapter back to me! And now, let's get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.**

* * *

**Chapter twenty-five**

It was a little after five when Elena left Bonnie's house.

"So everyone survived the meeting?" Damon asked lightly as she got into the car. "Or do you need help hiding the body?" He held out a bag of blood and a straw for her: she had insisted on eating before she saw Jenna and Maddy, to take all the precautions she could.

She rolled her eyes and accepted the bag. "Very funny." She stuck the straw into the plastic and took a long drink.

"I try." He pulled away from the curb. "So Jenna's next?"

Elena nodded, though her eyebrows pulled together in a frown. Seeing Bonnie and being alone with her had made her more confident about actually, _physically_ seeing Jenna and Maddy – she honestly didn't think she'd do anything to hurt either of them, intentionally or unintentionally – and the only problem that remained now was how Jenna would react …

"I texted Rick before, told him that we would be coming over," Damon said, pulling her attention back to the car. "I thought he'd like a heads-up, since he's the one who'll have the upset missus on his hands."

"Good." She had actually thought about that, but had forgotten to mention it.

"Everything's gonna be OK," he continued, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "Jenna's fine with Jeremy, right? So she'll be OK with this too."

"There's a difference," Elena started, "she thought Jeremy was _dead_ for years before she found out the truth, of course she's happy that he's back. This'll be like … I don't know."

"Are you saying that you want to back out?" he wanted to know. "I mean, we haven't booked the tickets to Europe yet: we can leave today and I can pretend like you died over there – I haven't worked much on my acting skills lately, but I'm sure I could pull it off – and then you can come back in, I don't know, a couple of months, and Jenna will be ecstatic."

She let out a sigh. "That might be the worst plan you've ever had."

"I was just trying to get you to see that this is the only option."

"Well, in that case, job well done!"

"Oh, come one. What's the absolutely worst thing that could happen?"

She thought for a moment. Jenna already knew about vampires, and she _had_ become more and more comfortable around Damon, Jeremy and Anna lately, so she probably wouldn't be scared … or not _too_ scared, anyway. She would most likely be mad, maybe even furious, that Elena hadn't told her before going through with it, but Elena could deal with anger – if it got really bad, she would just give Jenna some time to calm down. If she was going to be completely honest with herself, her worst fear was letting her aunt down.

"I just don't want her to be disappointed in me," she said quietly.

"Disappointed?" Damon repeated incredulously. "Are you crazy?"

"What if she thinks I've thrown my future, my _life_ away? It's not a completely unbelievable reaction, you know."

He shook his head. "Then _she's_ the one who's crazy. You still have a future, you can still do everything you could before … or almost everything, at least, but we've already been through that and it's not really her concern, anyway. If anything, you have _more_ of a future now than you did before. I mean, we'll get to experience the whole 21st century, and more. Just imagine the way the world will develop in, say, the next millennia. And we'll be around for that."

She could see it from his point of view, but she wasn't sure Jenna would.

Luckily – or maybe _un_luckily – she didn't have time to think about it more, because they were at the house. Damon turned the engine off and looked at her.

"This is the last chance to back out," he told her. "Kidding aside, you do have some options here. If you want, _I_ can tell her …"

"No," Elena immediately interrupted him. "I have to be the one to tell her, it'll only make it worse if you do it."

"You know what? Right now, I don't care." He pried her fingers away from the seat, which she only then realized she had been gripping so tightly it had made indentations in the leather. "I haven't seen you like this since … I honestly don't know. And I don't like it. You might be worrying about how Jenna will react, but _my_ top priority is _you_, and if doing this will make you this upset, then I don't give a damn if Jenna will be madder or disappointed or whatever if I'm the one to tell her."

When he had finished his little speech, Elena couldn't help but smile. Somehow it made her feel more at ease, him pointing out that she really didn't have to do this. "Thank you." She squeezed his hand. "I know you were offering me a way out of this and, even if I'm not going to take it, I do feel better."

He just looked at her for a moment, then shook his head and got out of the car, muttering about 'women'. She followed his example but, after she closed the door, she leaned against the car instead of following him up the path towards the door.

"Well?" He turned around and gave her a questioning look. "If you're so set on doing this, might as well get it over with. It's not like it's gonna get any easier if you put it off another half-hour."

Nodding, she pushed herself away from the car and walked up to him, gratefully taking the hand he held out for her.

The front door was open and, as they climbed the steps to the porch, Elena could hear Jenna and Maddy in the kitchen. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get into the house, she stopped a few steps from the doorway.

"Jenna?" she called into the house.

"We're in here!" Jenna yelled back.

Tentatively, Elena tried to put her hand through the seemingly empty doorway – not really expecting it to work – and met the same invisible barrier she had encountered at Bonnie's earlier.

"_That_ obviously doesn't qualify as an invitation," she muttered to herself.

"Having problems?"

Both Elena and Damon turned to find Alaric behind them, an amused expression on his face.

"Great timing, Rick," Damon noted. "You mind giving us a hand with the whole invitation-thing?"

Alaric didn't answer, his eyes on Elena. "You doing OK?"

She smiled at him, trying to look in control and reassuring. "Yeah, I'm good."

He nodded thoughtfully. "And you're sure you shouldn't wait a little longer before you do this?"

"Hey!" Damon started. "Why don't you give her the benefit of the doubt? She's not gonna …"

But Elena cut him off. "It's OK, Damon, I understand why he's worried." She turned to Alaric. "I would really like to talk to Jenna, I feel like I've already kept her in the dark too long. I would never do anything that would put her or Maddy at risk, I hope you know that, but if you really don't want me here right now, that's your call."

He contemplated her words for a moment. "So you're safe now?" he then asked.

Damon snorted. "She was never _un_safe."

Both Alaric and Elena ignored him. "I'm as safe as I'm ever going to be," Elena said. "You have to know that I wouldn't come here without making sure first, and I haven't felt the slightest urge to attack anyone when I've been around people. I mean, does it look like I'm having a hard time not going after you right now? And I was just with Bonnie, if you want you can call her and talk to her."

"They were alone for _hours_," Damon interjected. "And Sabrina's still walking and talking and being her usual annoying self."

Alaric scrutinized her for another long moment, then nodded. "I believe you. And I agree that you need to talk to Jenna, before she starts suspecting that something's up."

Elena's eyes widened. "Has she said anything?"

"No, no," he hurried to reply, shaking his head. "But … when Jeremy and Anna had left last week, she said something about understanding why Jeremy had made the choice he did back then, even if she was still mad at him for staying away for so long and letting her believe that he was dead, and I sort of got the feeling she wasn't just talking about him."

Elena thought about that for a moment. Could she be so lucky that Jenna would understand, no questions asked? No, probably not. If nothing else, she was sure that Jenna would be mad that she hadn't said anything before it happened.

"What are you doing hanging around out here?"

They all looked up to find Jenna in the doorway, Maddy on her hip.

"We just ran into Rick here," Damon quickly explained. "Got held up."

Elena took the opportunity to take a deep breath and let Jenna and Maddy's scents wash over her. Jenna smelled like … she smelled like home, somehow, homey. And a little lemony with a hint of … she thought it might be pine, or maybe some other kind of wood. It was nice, down to earth and just … Jenna. And Maddy … she still had that baby smell, only a hundred times stronger. She couldn't detect anything else, and wondered if maybe kids didn't have those pheromones Damon had told her about. Either way, there was nothing even remotely appetizing about that smell, it just made her want to bury her face in Maddy's hair and sniff her, like she remembered doing right after her cousin was born.

All this had, of course, only taken a second, and when she stopped focusing on the smells and returned to the present, Jenna was taking a step back from the doorway. "Well, come on in. We can't hang around on the porch all afternoon, and I have food in the oven."

As she said it, the smell of chicken wafted out to where they were standing. "It smells wonderful," Elena noted.

"I think there's enough for you too," Jenna replied. "If you're hungry."

Elena could feel Alaric's eyes on her as she contemplated how to answer Jenna. "Well, we _did_ just eat …" she started.

"… but you wouldn't turn down some of Jenna's chicken anyway, would you?" Damon finished the sentence for her, discreetly elbowing Alaric in the ribs to get him to stop looking at Elena like he was waiting for her to go all crazy on them.

"It does smell heavenly," Elena said.

"Then come on," Jenna concluded. "It'll be done in ten minutes or so."

Rick entered the house first, taking Maddy from Jenna and swinging the little girl up into the air before putting her down on the floor.

Elena knew that she had been invited and would be able to pass the doorway, but Damon still had to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her along into the house. When she was inside, she let out a relieved breath.

"You need to relax," Damon whispered, so quietly that nobody else would hear. "You're so tense I can feel it in your entire body."

"Well, excuse me if I'm not as laid back as you are!" Elena snapped back.

"Everything's gonna be fine," he told her. She had lost count of how many times he had said that today and, funnily enough, it didn't get any easier believing him the more he said it.

Jenna and Alaric had continued into the kitchen, but Maddy was still in the hallway, looking up at Elena with an expectant expression in her face. When nothing happened, she raised her arms in the air.

"Up, Ena, up!" she demanded, looking almost exasperated, like Elena should have been able to figure out on her own what she wanted.

Instinctively, Elena took a step back. She didn't dare pick Maddy up, afraid that she would hold her too tightly.

Just when the little girl looked like she was about to throw a temper tantrum, Damon swooped her up onto his shoulders. This apparently suited Maddy just fine, because she shrieked with laughter and started pounding him on the head with her little fists.

Elena shot him a brief smile. "Thanks."

"No big. But you're gonna have to get over this fear of unintentionally hurting people soon: it's not gonna happen."

"Maybe not …" seeing the look on his face, she continued, "… OK, _probably_ not, but I'm not going to experiment on her."

He sighed. "Fine."

"Now come on. They're gonna start to wonder what we're doing out here."

Obediently, he followed her into the kitchen where Jenna was checking on the chicken and Alaric had just put the last plate on the table.

"OK, make that fifteen minutes," Jenna announced, closing the oven door.

"Fifteen minutes, that's a long time, isn't it, Maddy?" Damon lifted her off his shoulders and held her upside down in front of him. "You wanna go out on the swings while we're waiting for dinner?"

"Go high!"

"Yep, you can go as high as you want," he told her, lowering his voice to a stage whisper, "I promise I won't tell your mom if you don't."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Funny."

"Come on, squirt, let's go." Damon put Maddy down on the floor and she immediately took off towards the back door. "Rick, you wanna join us? Make sure I don't corrupt your little girl?"

Catching the real intention behind the words, Alaric immediately nodded. "You have everything under control in here, right?" he asked Jenna.

"Sure, you go outside and play," she replied amusedly. "Let the women handle the dinner."

"Great. Call us when it's done."

When the men and Maddy had disappeared into the back yard, Jenna shook her head. "Well, _that_ was subtle," she noted, shooting Elena a look. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

Letting out a deep sigh, Elena sat down at the kitchen table. "I guess they wanted to give us some privacy, so that we could talk."

"That's what I figured." Jenna glanced at the chicken again, then sat down opposite Elena at the table. "So there's something that we _need_ to talk about?"

Biting her lip, Elena nodded. Part of her wished that Jenna had figured out what was going on and would put her on the spot – somehow, it seemed easier to defend her choice and explain why she had made that decision than actually coming out and saying the words – but, of course, when she _wanted_ it to happen, it didn't.

"I …" she started, but cut herself off and decided to take another approach. "You know that Damon and I … I mean, we're getting married, it's … for real, for life. And … you know what he is, and what that means …"

Jenna sighed. "I know, and I guess I've been waiting for this conversation. But, Elena, you're only twenty-two, you have your whole life ahead of you, I really don't think you should have to think about this already. I mean, Damon isn't pressuring you or anything, is he?"

Elena frowned: apparently, Jenna thought that this was going to be a preparatory conversation. "No, but that's not …"

But Jenna cut her off. "Then I don't see why you have to think about this now. I mean, down the line, sure, I get that it's something for you to consider, but so many things could happen before then. I know that you feel like Damon's the only guy for you right now, but those things don't always last. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience."

Not being able to stand Jenna continuing to convince herself that she might be able to talk her out of this, Elena decided to just dive right in and get it out there. "Jenna, this isn't something I'm thinking about, I'm trying to tell you that I already have."

"You've already thought about it?"

Elena shook her head. "No, that I've already … it's already happened."

For a moment, Jenna looked like she didn't understand, then she closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. "Oh, Elena …"

"It's not a bad thing, Jenna, I'm still exactly the same," Elena tried to reason. "I mean, you wouldn't even have noticed if I hadn't told you, right?"

Jenna lowered her hands and gave her niece a fierce look. "Do _not_ try to joke about this, it's not funny!"

Elena immediately raised her hands in a surrendering motion. "I know, I know. Sorry."

Jenna didn't seem to hear her. "Don't you understand that I want so much more for you?" she asked, rhetorically, Elena assumed, and got up from the table. "More than this … this … _existence_, or whatever you want to call it."

She started pacing the room, not meeting Elena's eyes. Well, Elena thought, it could have been worse. At least she hadn't screamed. And she didn't seem scared or anything.

"I know that this isn't the life you had in mind for me, but you have to understand that it's _my_ choice, and this is what I want. _Damon_ is what I want, and this is the only way I'll get to be with him forever."

"But that's not all there is to life!" Jenna insisted, finally stopping her pacing and facing Elena again. "There's more to life than a guy, don't you see that? And now you've gone and given _everything_ up, everything you could have had, everything you could have done!"

Elena shook her head. "I know that there are things I won't be able to do, won't get to experience, but I have thought about this for a long time, and I'm OK with that."

"How can you be, when you don't even know what you're giving up?"

"What am I giving up?" Elena retorted. "I'll live forever, be young forever. I mean, Damon and I won't grow old together, but we'll have eternity, isn't that better?"

"And what about kids? You won't be able to have any, have you even thought about that?"

"Of course I have! Damon even brought it up before … but, even if I had stayed human, I wouldn't have been able to have kids with the person I would want them with. Can you try to see it from my point of view, please?"

Stubbornly – or so Elena thought, at least – Jenna shook her head.

"Come on, Jenna. I know that Maddy is everything to you, and I love her too, I always will, but if it had been Alaric, would you have been able to walk away from him?"

Looking like all the fight had gone out of her, Jenna slumped down in a chair, slowly shaking her head.

"Do you see what I mean?" Elena asked carefully after a moment.

Reluctantly, Jenna nodded. "I think the reason I'm mad is really that I do, I understand, and I … I think I would do the exact same thing if I had been in your shoes," she admitted. "But I have to be the adult here, and … I was supposed to take care of you guys, you know. And it feels like I've failed."

"No!" Instinctively, Elena reached across the table and took Jenna's hand. She was relieved when her aunt didn't pull away. "Don't think like that. I don't know where Jeremy and I would be if it hadn't been for you taking us in after Mom and Dad died."

"You'd probably still be _alive_!" But she didn't sound as upset anymore, and Elena hazarded a smile that was returned, if weakly.

"I'm sorry that you have to deal with all of this, it really isn't fair."

Jenna shrugged. "I _was_ starting to get used to it."

"And then I just had to add another worry." Elena sighed. "Sorry."

"You handled it a thousand times better than Jeremy, though," Jenna noted, and Elena couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I'd have to screw up pretty badly to do _worse_."

"True."

Elena squeezed Jenna's hand carefully, then let it go. "I understand if you want some time to get used to all this, if you don't want to see me for a while or have me around Maddy. We were planning on staying here for maybe a week or two before going to Europe, but we can leave sooner."

Jenna frowned. "No, why would I want that? I want you here for as long as possible before you go out into the world and never come back to this hole-in-the-wall they try to pass off as a town."

"We're not _moving_ to Europe," Elena pointed out. "We'll just be gone for a couple of months."

"I know, I know."

"But we can stay here a little longer, if you want," Elena told her. "I mean, it's not like we're on a schedule or anything, we can leave when we feel like it."

Jenna nodded. "Good."

They sat in silence for a while, then Jenna sighed.

"I wish you would have talked to me before you did this."

The guilt immediately engulfed Elena. "I know, and I'm really sorry about that."

"I mean, I realize that I probably wouldn't have been able to talk you out of it," Jenna continued, "but I would have liked to have been a part of the decision making process. I mean, I'd like to think that I'm the closest thing you have to a parent these days …"

"Of course you are," Elena interjected.

"… and that you can talk to me about everything," Jenna continued. "To be honest, it feels like you don't trust me enough to confide in me."

"No!" Elena exclaimed. "No, that's not it at all, of course I trust you, and I know that I can talk to you about anything. I _was_ going to tell you, actually. Back when we told you everything, remember? But then it felt like I had already put so much on your plate, so I didn't."

"Really?" Jenna sounded doubtful. "You're not just trying to make me feel better?"

"Of course not," Elena assured her. "And you don't have to tell me that I took the coward's way out.

Jenna laughed a little. "Well, as long as you're aware of that!"

Hearing her aunt laugh made Elena let out a relieved breath and start to, if not believe then at least hope that maybe she and Jenna would be able to move on without too many bumps in the road.

* * *

As soon as they got outside, Damon claimed one of the lawn chairs and let Alaric entertain Maddy. He didn't have to try very hard to be able to hear the conversation in the kitchen, but he did shut out all other sounds, which was the reason he didn't react until Alaric kicked him in the shins.

"Hey!" he complained, rubbing the spot. Not that it had actually _hurt_, but still.

"Are you listening to their conversation?" Alaric wanted to know.

"Of course I am. And you're distracting me."

Alaric shook his head, as if disapproving, but still sat down in another chair, pulling a slightly reluctant Maddy into his lap. "How's it going?"

"Well, your missus had a bit of a fit at first, but now she's calmed down and they're talking. Seems like it won't be as bad as Elena was afraid of."

Alaric nodded thoughtfully. "I think Jenna was waiting for this to happen, though maybe only on a subconscious level."

"Yeah, she said something along those lines before."

"I wonder what it'll be like," Alaric mused out loud, "thirty years from now, when Jenna and I are getting old and you guys are still as young as ever."

Damon laughed. "Maybe you'll be begging me to turn you."

Alaric laughed too. "It's not completely unimaginable, but … no, I don't think so."

"Your loss."

* * *

"That's the last box," Stefan announced late on Monday afternoon, setting the box in question down on the table in the large living room at the boarding house.

"Thank God!" Jeremy exclaimed, slumping down on the couch. "I thought they would never end!"

"There weren't _that_ many boxes," Elena objected.

"There were enough."

"Come on, Jere, stop complaining," Anna piped in. "You're supposed to be strong, remember?"

"Was I complaining about them being heavy?" Jeremy asked rhetorically. "No, I was complaining about there being, like, a _million_ of them."

"And that's not an exaggeration at _all_," Damon noted. "You are the worst mover ever."

"Maybe that's because I'm not one."

"OK, before this turns into a full blown fight, I think we're going to call it a day," Anna announced, shooting Jeremy a look.

"Thanks for all the help, guys," Elena said. "We wouldn't have been able to get it done as quickly without you."

"Oh, you _definitely_ wouldn't." Jeremy winked at her. "So, see you tomorrow, Gilbert movie night?"

Elena smiled. "Absolutely."

"OK. Night, all."

He and Anna left, passing Abby in the hallway.

"This house is pretty cool," she said when she came into the room. "If my sense of directions wasn't as good as it is, I might even get lost."

"Yeah, it _is_ big," Elena agreed. "You guys aren't going back down to Durham tonight, are you?"

Stefan shook his head. "No, we checked out of the hotel before we left."

"Do you want to stay here?" Elena offered. "I mean, it's technically _your_ house, so _you're_ the one who should be inviting _me_ to stay, but …"

Stefan laughed. "No, that's OK. This is your place now, really. And we were actually thinking about catching the late flight back to San Francisco."

Abby nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm starting to get a little homesick, actually."

"Of course." Elena shook her head. "You guys have already been here much longer than you needed to, you should go home."

"And she says that in the least please-leave-us-alone way as possible," Damon piped in with a smirk. Elena elbowed him in the ribs.

"We've had a lot of fun here, really," Abby said. "But you're doing great, so I think it's time we leave you to get on with your lives on your own. Besides, you won't be here for that long, either. Europe calls."

Elena smiled. "It does. I'm really looking forward to it."

"Maybe we'll catch up with you somewhere on the road?" Abby suggested. "I haven't been over there in a few decades." She gave Stefan a questioning look.

"Yeah, that sounds good." He nodded. "But for now, we're going to leave you to yourself: we can talk about Europe later."

"You're sure you don't want to stay here tonight?" Damon wondered. "I mean, kidding aside, you don't actually have to leave right this minute."

"No, I know. But … like Abby said, it's time to head back home."

Elena liked the way he talked about San Francisco as _home_: it was new, something post-Abby, she thought. It was nice to know that he had found a place, a _person_, to call home.

When they were alone, Elena let out a deep breath.

"Tired?" Damon asked.

"A little, I guess," she replied. "It's been a long day."

"It has."

"But it feels good to be here. I mean, I liked the apartment, but this …"

"… is home," he finished the sentence for her.

She nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah, it is."

They might be leaving for the trip of her life in only a few weeks, and she wasn't sure they would ever be able to come back to Mystic Falls for real – after all, Damon had already lived there for six years, people were bound to start realizing he wasn't aging soon – but she knew that it would always be her home. No matter where life brought her and no matter what it had in store for her in the very long future that lay ahead of her, this would always be the place where she had grown up. The place where her life had started, both literally and metaphorically.

* * *

**AN: OK, guys, ****how did you like Jenna's reaction? I didn't want her to completely freak out – I mean, she would be stupid not to realize that this was something that was coming – but she couldn't be all 'oh, well, OK, no problem' either. I hope this was a nice middle road. **And, now, we've pretty much reached the end of the road. I'll probably post a short, one-shot epilogue, but this is really as far as I was planning on going with this story. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and if you're interested in the epilogue!  



	26. Epilogue

**AN: OK, first of all, I'd like to apologize for the extremely long wait! I know it's been ages, and I'm very sorry. I moved a couple of weeks ago and have been busy unpacking and settling in, not that that's an excuse, really. I hope you're still sticking with me! Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter (yes, I know it was forever ago!), I'm glad you seemed to think Jenna's reaction was believable, at least for the most part. And, while I'm at it, thanks to all of you, my wonderful readers, for sticking with me on this long and winding road. You are the best! OK, I'm not gonna drag it out any longer – here it is, the epilogue and officially last part of this story! As always, lots of hugs for my beta, sunshine2006578, for her help with not just this chapter, but the entire series!**

**Disclaimer: The characters of The Vampire Diaries are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.**

* * *

**Epilogue**

Elena put on her new Prada sunglasses – Damon had insisted on buying them for her in Paris, despite the fact that she had tried to tell him that she didn't need sunglasses that expensive – before pulling the curtains apart and stepping out onto the small balcony.

The slight tingle in her skin that the sun caused didn't bother her much anymore – after three weeks, she had gotten more or less used to it – and she could easily disregard it and enjoy the warm, sunny morning and the breeze that played with her hair. For a second, she closed her eyes to take it all in: the smell of newly baked bread wafting towards her from the bakery two blocks away, the buzz of the morning traffic, a church bell far in the distance …

"Enjoying yourself?"

At the sound of Damon's voice, she opened her eyes and smiled at him over her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her hair.

"It still takes my breath away," she replied, looking out over the city that was just starting to wake up to another day.

"Technically, you don't have any breath," he shot back quickly, continuing before she had a chance to make a snappy retort, "but, yeah, Rome has a tendency to do that."

Beneath them, Piazza Navona was starting to fill with the first tourists of the day and, further ahead, she could just catch a glimpse of the Pantheon. They had already done all the 'tourist-y stuff', which was what Damon called sightseeing, and were now enjoying a few days of just being before continuing on through Europe. Their itinerary was more or less nonexistent, something Elena had thought she'd have a problem with but had found very relaxing.

"Where are we going next?" she now asked, curious to hear what he had in mind.

"I don't know …" he started. "Any thoughts? I've been here before, after all, you're the one in charge."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and looked up at the clear, blue sky as she pondered their next destination.

"Maybe Venice?" she then suggested. "I've always wanted to see it, all the canals. And maybe, while we're there, we could go to Verona? See Juliet's balcony. I've wanted to go there since I first read the play back in junior high and our teacher showed us pictures of the house."

"You _do_ know that Romeo and Juliet is just fiction, right?" Damon wondered."There's absolutely no proof that the house they pass off as Juliet's has anything whatsoever to do with the actual story. And Shakespeare wasn't even Italian."

She rolled her eyes and, for his benefit, sighed. "Of course I know that. Can't you be a little romantic for once?"

He nuzzled her neck, breathing on her skin and sending shivers down her spine. "Oh, you know I can be _plenty_ romantic when I want to be," he mumbled, running one hand up her bare thigh.

It took every ounce of willpower Elena possessed, but she managed to pull away from him and turn around to lean against the wrought iron railing of the balcony. Putting on the most indifferent expression she could muster, she met his eyes. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

She had barely uttered the last word before he advanced on her and swung her up into his arms before resolutely turning and going back into the hotel room, not even bothering to close the curtains before putting her down on the bed and covering her body with his.

"Now you've done it."

* * *

**AN: OK, that's it. Short, I know, but I just wanted to give you a glimpse of the Europe adventure. I hope you liked it. **_**Henoi**_**: I'm sorry the epilogue didn't take place a few decades down the line. That's not to say I'll never go down that road, though … most of you seem to be interested in a potential sequel, and I'm definitely not ruling it out. As a matter of fact, I have a few ideas for at least two sequels. But, for now, I think I am going to take a break. I've lived with this story for over nine months now, and I feel like I need a breather. But, who knows? With the amount of creative outlet I get at work at the moment (zero) it wouldn't surprise me if I start playing the next story out in my head soon and then I'll just have to write it down. I'm not making any promises, but keep your eyes open! **_**ZeppelinRules**_**: I have absolutely no idea what I'd call a potential sequel. It feels like the theme has sort of run its course, I don't know what I'd use next. My amazing beta suggested "Some things" for a series of shorter one shots, but I don't know if that's what I have in mind … we'll see. For now, please let me know what you thought about this last part and the story in general! **


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